Bayfront - cancel Resident contract & Union availability?

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I may be an idealist, but Bayfront seems to be really horrible to it's employees. You are hired onto a floor after a 3 month stint of the 'Residency' program, which pretty much consists of following Nurses around and taking over their patient load halfway in, and doing computer modules of information you JUST DID in Nursing School. You have to sign a 2 year contract to be hired in, and it states if you break the contract, you are expected to pay back $28,000!! The starting pay is really low too, even after you get out of the Residency program.

Bayfront supposedly has a float team, yet they float permanent department Nurses to very different departments 3/5 shifts - WITHOUT asking if they want to float, nor offering the float differential that the float team gets because floating is stressful to Nurses, staff and patients - so they get an extra differential just to float. In order to float Nurses and PCTs, the Nursing Managers allows for some departments to be understaffed and overwhelmed often. Seems like a severe patient safety risk and not to mention unsafe and unfair for the Nurses all around.

Do I have any recourse to void my contract? Are there any Nursing Unions for Bayfront?

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Specializes in Critical Care, Education.

I'm sorry if your residency program is not turning out as well as you expected, but if you've signed a legal agreement, you have to fulfill the terms of the contract. If your facility is represented by a union, you would have been informed as part of the employment process.

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Re-read the contract. Is it a "real" contract. What's the consideration? I'm no legal expert but I'm pretty sure employers can't seek legal recourse, if they did not specifically give you anything, as a term of the contract in exchange for a time commitment. Simply getting a job is not consideration. Did they pay off your loans? Did you get a sign-on bonus? Hospitals are using these faux contracts as a scare tactic to reduce turnover. It's lazy and reprehensible. If they want to maintain staff and have low turnovers, they should provide excellent pay and benefits, and a great working environment; but I guess it's easier to write some words on a piece of paper, call it a contract, and have a desperate new grad sign. GL

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