I hate to complain and I know I am not perfect by any means, but I feel that I have been treated unfairly. I was placed on probation for call in's, and I did call in three times in 9 months. However, one of the call in's was actually due to the fact that I had shingles, was contagious, sent to the doctor by the facility, and prohibited from working due to the risk of infection from the open sores. The facility eventually required me to work with open sores but they did cover them with bandages to protect the residents. Another one of them was to attend my grand mothers funeral. They counted both of those to determine that I had exceeded the allowed call ins and placed me on probation.
Then my time card did not work so I had to sign in when I reported to work. They allege that I arrived at 2:49 PM, and that I signed in at 2:40 PM, thus falsifying records. For that since I was on probation was grounds for my termination. In addition, they claim that it was 1 hour before late giving a patient their pain medicine. It did take me longer than I would have liked, but the following situation prevented me from doing any different. The patient was one of two new admissions that occurred immediately prior to my tour of duty. I reported to work, received report and made rounds with the nurse going off duty. That took almost 15 minutes. During that time, a nurse practioner asked me to give Jane Doe her pain medicine. I went to the desk to access their chart but due to the fact they were just admitted the patient's chart was not available yet. I did have the verbal order from the NP, but I had no Medication or Physicians order, or chart to document that the med had been given. I checked twice but I also began doing my other duties while I waited. I checked back, I guess in 45 minutes, and the chart was available, and I gave the medicine. It was ultram. My other duties are of course time sensitive so I felt obligated to begin doing them or my entire shift would be thrown off schedule. One of them being the second new admission, and of course I had medications to administer, etc.
I feel that the absence due to the shingles was not unexcused and I should not have been on probation, that an alleged 9 minute descrepancy on the time sheet is not falsification of records, and that I have been unjustly terminated. As a result, despite working 9 months on a shift I did not want to work, they nnow claim I owe them the entire sign on bonus back. The termination occurred as my time required to keep the bonus was ending. Is this fair? Please be honest so that I might at least learn from this in the future.
