Abandonment?

[karenrn111]

I work in LTC day shift Friday, Saturday, and Sunday. I am being told by my employer that if I do not pick up Thursdays that I will be turned into the State Board of Nursing for abandonment. Would anyone consider this abandonment. I do not believe it can be consider abandonment. I am that only nurse that is being asked to pick up an extra day. The nurse that works Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday is not being asked to work. What are my options?

[TriciaJ, RN]

I'd be burning rubber out of that joint and dropping a dime to the labour board on my way out. (But do give and work your notice.) Yes, it is hard to figure out: are they really that stupid or do they just think you are? Or are they just stupid enough to think you'd be that stupid? I've long since stopped trying to get my head around this stuff.

[wendiwhiner]

I would print it out and slide it under her door.

[akulahawkRN, ADN, RN, EMT-P]

I'm an ED RN. When I leave work, I give report to my replacement and I chart to whom I reported off to. After that, I clock out and leave. That's not abandonment. If my supervisor called me threatened me with being reported for abandonment for not picking up an additional shift beyond my 3 per week (forced overtime), I would be happy to say to please put that in writing. Why? Since I'm not at work at the time, there's no way I could accept an assignment. That means there's no way I could abandon that assignment.

That doesn't mean that they can't try to find a way to force me to do OT. I might actually do it... as long as I'm properly compensated for it. If they don't or they threaten me by reporting me for abandonment for not accepting OT, well then the labor board (and perhaps other regulatory agencies) might have an issue with that.

If your managers are threatening you with abandonment for not taking OT, they're trying to bully you into working beyond what you're obligated to. The fact that they're comfortable with threatening you means they've done this before to others, haven't been bit legally by this, and are having staffing problems so they're resorting to bully tactics to fill holes in the schedule that they're unwilling to fill otherwise. If they're also licensed as a nurse and they're not willing to take an assignment to fill those holes... then they're also committing abandonment by their own definition. Just something to consider...

Oh, and now that they've done this to you, it's your turn to closely read the employee manual, look for a new job, and turn in your notice appropriately dated, then work each and every day you're scheduled to work.

[Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN]

It can only be abandonment if you accept a work assignment in the first place. If you do not accept an assignment on Thursday, then you can't be accused of abandonment by not working Thursday.