Should high absenteeism be cause to be fired?

[Emergent]

My hospital seems to be cracking down on absenteeism. The second person this month in our dept was just fired. He has a wife with severe medical problems. He also calls in for bs reasons I suspect.

He was fired while his wife was hospitalized and he called in. That seems like kicking a man while he is down to me.

I'm wondering, is nursing only for people with no health problems in themselves or their immediate families?

[scaredsilly, BSN, RN]

These are the same facilities that hand out discharge papers excusing people off work for xxx amount of time because of an injury or illness! Where I am, if you miss two shifts in a row, you need a note from the provider excusing you. To me that makes sense, it cuts down on the BS. There is also a policy that if you use none of your sick time in a year, you get the hours in cash. Love that, except when a sick co-worker shows up at work and makes everyone else sick, but it's still good incentive.

I think FMLA is federally mandated. It may have to be taken without pay if you have no time in your bank, but they still have to let you have it if you can prove it. No one should be fired because their spouse has cancer!

[klone, MSN, RN]

I think FMLA is federally mandated.

Only if the employer has more than 50 employees. And you actually have to apply for FMLA. You can't just call in sick and call it FMLA retroactively.

[RNOTODAY, BSN, RN]

I think it should, yes. This coming from ME, who was burned twice by this... Absolutely, MD note or not. MD notes buy you time, but only for so long

[SmilingBluEyes]

Ah this is where calling out sick when you don't need to catches up to you. If you are sick, yes, call out, esp if contagious. But be aware "someone" is keeping track and there will, one day, be the straw that breaks the camel's back. That is why I rarely ( not in 5 years) call out. Because when I need to, I don't want to have trouble or lose my job. I can't predict what will happen, but if I hurt myself or become ill long-term, I want that time to be there and not to have trouble with my employer. I also want to be known as reliable, which I am.

I have worked with people who call out for every little thing like a mild cold and then when their kids get very sick, bam, now, it's too much. Well you abused it all along and when you REALLY needed to call out, it caught up with you. Hard to feel sorry for someone in that situation, although I am very sorry about his wife having cancer. How awful.

[RNcooley]

Honestly I hate people that call in sick frequently and abuse FMLA. I don't mean to sound harsh or offend anybody but its not fun to work with colleagues that call in frequently and leave you understaffed and hanging. We had a recent interviewee for a position at my work. Awkward interview the lady started off talking about her health problems as a formal introduction. We all looked at each other and she kept going on and on. I wanted to ask her as the first interview question are you on FMLA? but obvi I can't do that legally. Any who just my two cents. There are those few bad apples that abuse the system and ruin its true intention.

[caffeinatednurse, BSN, RN]

That is so interesting that you say that. Any number of evaluations of late seem to have a "you call out too much" undertone to them. Or rather "you do not have a bunch of sick time left".

Sick time is accumulated. If you have it, not using it, there it sits as part of your compensation package. It is interesting that this is something that seems to be a forefront in advertising for nurses (One sick day a month!! Vacation up to blah blah a year!) HOwever, if you actually USE it, then it is used against you. Some companies even have sick banks, that if you don't have it, you get paid anyways. But again, lose your job over it?

Time off is time off earned. If facilities have no intention of letting you actually use the time off you have earned, then they shouldn't offer it as part of a package. But they do. And once they lure you in, then it is held against you. Ah, the sweet smell of corporate America!!

This is literally the exact same logic that my coworker (who calls in all of the time for BS reasons even though she knows it will leave her 11-7 nurse by themselves on the hall) uses when admin cracks down on her for said behavior.

Yes, it's there if you need it. But I think some people confuse "need" with "want."

[NICU Guy, BSN, RN]

We don't have separate vacation and sick time. It is lumped into one category. You can use it for vacation, sick or low census.