Discrimination & Whistle blowing - Would you hire this nurse again?

[SunshineSmile]

I was discriminated against when I applied for a job. In other words, a job offer at a hospital was rescinded due to their discrimination against me. I sued them and won. Now my name is all over Google if you search it. A few years later, similar thing happened. I got a job at a well known hospital, worked at the place, and the manager discriminated me. Since she couldn't make it obvious that the discrimination as the reason for terminating me, she micromanaged me and came up with a bunch of things that a new orientee might get wrong or make mistakes on to get me fired. Now, my lawyers are about to sue that hospital also.

I have been looking for a new job for the last 6 months since the fancy hospital manager let me go. My question is, is my career doomed because my name is tarnished all over the internet as a "litigious nurse," or does it really matter? Do HR people and nurse managers reconsider offering a job to a good candidate because she once sued another facility? What they did to me was wrong. And I want justice. But do people that sue facilities end up having a hard time getting a job elsewhere because of it? It seems like double punishment to me.

[theantichick]

Weird! I just googled it and it appears that you're correct. I live in an area with a large SDA population and it was always my understanding from associating with SDA friends etc. that you could work on Friday (most spent Friday night preparing for Saturday sabbath) but definitely not on Saturday.

Does make me wonder about the policies in regards to the SDA hospital just down the road from me. I was also under the assumption, which was brought up by someone else, that life saving occupations were exempt from the sabbath.

Good to know 'tho!

I was raised SDA, and believe me I know the sundown-to-sundown rules in exquisite detail! They really suck to most SDA teens! :) (I no longer practice for other reasons.)

There are large numbers of SDA's in healthcare, and their hospital network used to be very large. Loma Linda in California is an SDA facility, for example. The SDA teachings have always been that providing health care to those who need it is not a violation of the Sabbath keeping laws. At least the way it was when I was growing up, the managers would make an effort to rotate the Sabbath shifts so not everyone had to bear the brunt, or try and schedule non-SDA's if possible, but it was more a courtesy thing than anything. Some employees would make arrangements and work a Sunday for a non-SDA co-worker if that person would work their Saturday. But it was clearly understood if you were needed, you worked, and the church leaders I knew about never even questioned it.

Now I did my Foundations clinicals at our local SDA facility, and I'm not sure if there was a single SDA working on the floor I was on. :) Different world than the one I grew up in.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

Now I did my Foundations clinicals at our local SDA facility, and I'm not sure if there was a single SDA working on the floor I was on. :) Different world than the one I grew up in.

My ICU clinical was in said SDA facility down the street from me. As a long time vegetarian, I thoroughly enjoyed their cafeteria selections, but...I don't know how I could have told a SDA nurse from a regular nurse. Even the daily employee prayer circles were geared towards a more general Christian mindset.

I love learning about stuff like this.

[blah411]

Hmm... I am Jewish and according to what I know the "halaha" determined that saving lives is superior to observing Sabbath.

I have religious MD friends who work on Sabbath no problem. Bottom line, I am sure you could find a Rabbi to approve you to work

but you chose to go to extreme and sue the Hospital. I think your future employers who might know few things about Judaism will not see this favorably.

Besides, who discriminates against Jewish anyways, the Hospitals are packed with Jewish docs

[FranEMTnurse, CNA, LPN, EMT-I]

You definitely made a wrong choice by suing. Had you not done that, you probably would have stood a better chance. Taking care of people who are hospitalized, (They are there because their physician felt the need to put them there)comes into the subject of the ox in the ditch. I'm sure if the shoe was on the other foot, and you were a very ill or injured patient, wouldn't you want to be cared for?

[SunshineSmile]

There are enough Jews that would want Saturdays off and enough Christians that want Sundays off. I think it's a fair trade if the Jews offer to work on Sundays for the Christians and the Christians work Saturdays for the Jews. The religious Christians should be happy that there is someone who is willing to work for their Sundays so they could go to church, which is basically what I offered.

[missladyrn]

I would not hire anyone with a history of filing multiple lawsuits. It is easy to find trouble when you are looking for it. Also you working every Sunday and having every Saturday off means another nurse will UNFAIRLY have to work every Saturday. If you want to practice your religion and it is your number 1 priority over work, choose a job that has hours that accommodate. There are a lot of nursing jobs that do not require every weekend or every other weekend, go get one of those. If you choose to apply somewhere that requires weekends, you should be willing to compromise. The rest of the staff will be effected by you being hired, so I would not hire you. You cannot work the hours of the posted job.

[SunshineSmile]

I am Orthodox which does not give me much flexibility in terms of which day I observe as my "sabbath" or "a day of rest." I did ask 3 rabbis about the issue and basically was told that since I am not working in an emergency care setting, it's not considered as a "life saving situation," and because I would be traveling to a hospital(which is not allowed on Sabbath) and "waiting" for the life saving situation to happen. There are emergency medical personnel that are allowed to violate these rules but it didn't apply to my particular situation.

[SunshineSmile]

If we worked in the same facility, I could have worked for you. I think this is where people of different faith come to help each other. I am sure there are people who want their day of faith to be off and if someone else has the same situation but for a different day, it is a great situation.

[dirtyhippiegirl, BSN, RN]

There are enough Jews that would want Saturdays off and enough Christians that want Sundays off. I think it's a fair trade if the Jews offer to work on Sundays for the Christians and the Christians work Saturdays for the Jews. The religious Christians should be happy that there is someone who is willing to work for their Sundays so they could go to church, which is basically what I offered.

You're making unfair assumptions about the characteristics of the unit that you were hired on to. My personal experience with working nights on my small-ish acute/critical care unit is that everyone is willing to work Sunday nights to fulfill their weekend obligation but nobody wants to work Friday or Saturday nights because we're a fairly young unit and people like to go out.

I did orientation on days and also can't think of anyone who would rather pick up a Saturday over a Sunday for religious reasons.

Just because you're devout doesn't mean that anyone else - Jew, Christian, or Muslim - is the same way.

[SunshineSmile]

Actually, my faith does not teach anything against suing those who discriminate. In fact, they teach that those who are careful about observing their religious duties will be rewarded in the afterlife, even if it means loosing one's job.

Having said that, I am not looking into making a "career out of suing facilities" as some people put it. I became a nurse because I want to help people, and moving forward to getting a Master's degree also. It just so happens that my religion has some limitations. If I could just snap a switch and make the limitations disappear, I would. I understand that if this was in a place like Israel where a ton of people observe the sabbath it is competely unreasonable to make this request and I would work on Saturdays if this was in Israel. But here in America, things are different... The fact that the country was established by people who escaped religious persecution... the fact that Orthodox Jews are a minority (statistically speaking).... So the rabbis don't make exceptions so quickly.

I have been looking into a Monday through Friday job but no luck so far... Clinics typically look for medical assistants rather than RNs. Dialysis is good. The ones I've seen want only people with dialysis experience, which I don't have.... M-F surgical offices would be good but haven't found any opening yet.

[allaboutob]

There are always 2 sides to a story. I am tired of hearing "discrimination" when someone does not get their way and trying to turn it on and blame the employer. Nursing may not be the right career for someone who has this mindset. It would be interesting to hear the employers side of the story. Why would someone turn an employer in when while going in to a nursing career, one is aware that taking care of others is a 24/7 job. Nursing is a passion. There are sacrifices one must make if going into a career in the medical field. Grow up...put on your big girl panties and get a different job! Would not hire you!

[Rose_Queen, BSN, MSN, RN]

I think you are expecting too much of your coworkers. You working every Sunday and them working every Saturday- how would that work with weekend trips, nights out on dates or with friends/family? It would mean no free weekends at all, and that's not how these jobs are advertised. If you aren't able to fulfill the requirements, as posted, of the job, then you shouldn't apply. I don't see what you're asking for as a reasonable accommodation- it would be inconveniencing a lot more people than you think. The number of U.S. citizens who associate themselves with organized religion of any kind is dropping- I don't think you'd find enough people willing to create such an agreement as the split weekend shifts. Health care is 24/7/365, and if you weren't told that very early in your education, then your school did you a disservice.