Staff "refusing" to work a schedule

I would be talking with my supervisor and with the Human Resources Department to be sure that you are clear on the official policies in place within your institution. I would not meet with her until I was clear on what those policies were and what type of action my employer would support.

Personally, I believe that there should be a well-established system in place to "take turns" for determining the holiday schedule. The schedule should not be made by one person "behind closed doors" so that it can appear to involve favoritism, etc. Everyone should know the guidelines ahead of time and everyone should have confidence that the system is a fair one and that the work will be spread appropriately and fairly among the whole staff. That eliminates the possibility that someone can claim to be the victim of an unfair practice -- and provides you with a strong foundation for disciplinary action for any employee who doesn't abide by the rules.

Do you have such a system in place? Are there policies that cover the holiday schedule? etc. That's the question.

I've always worked in places that had well-established systems -- and if you didn't abide by it, you went down the formal path of discipline up to and including being fired in the most extreme circumstance.

How about you split it so that each of the secretaries get either Christmas or Christmas Eve off.

This year the single mom would get Christmas Eve, but she'd have to work Thanksgiving and Christmas.

The next question is, does the childless secretary want New Year's Eve off? Singles generally consider that a holiday and family types prefer to work it and New Year's Day.

When my son was little but old enough to know when Christmas was, I'd switch with someone to have Christmas or Christmas Eve off because I didn't mind working New Year's.

Worked for everyone.

Hope you find a satisfactory solution, but it looks like single mom is going to have to bend a little.

Our Clinical Manager had given us time to request what does we wanted by ranking them, as twarlik's did. We had five days (Thanksgiving, Christmas Eve, Christmas Day, New Years Eve, and New years Day) and we would rank them 1-5, with one being the most desired day off. I think that for the most part everyone is happy. Of course, those that may not be, it is actually their problems because they didn't rank their days.

For the OP, how many unit secretaries do you have that work that shift? I kind of can understand the unit secretary being upset on having to work all three days, especially both Christmas Eve AND Christmas Day. I think one or the other day should be considered.

Kris

She was given Thanksgiving.

This one rings a familiar bell! I completed our holiday rota last month, and from the whole year it is definitely the most time consuming! Our unit (un-written) rules are:1/ you will work one or the other, so please be sensible about rota requests 2/ If we need to shuffle things about you may have to work what you had off last year.
However there is always someone who wants too much time off, and whilst I understand peoples personal commitments (I have a young family myself) at the end of the day we are paid to manage not to be popular! If you succeed at both its a bonus! Check with your HR dept what the rules are, and speak to your manager as she may have solutions that she has used in other years, like splitting the shifts etc. Good Luck!

Many facilities have rules that you must work one winter and one summer holiday. If thats true, she worked it on thanksgiving. If you do not have that policy, she should not have to work both eve and xmas day. May I ask what holidays you are working?