Being called off.

[kimmie518]

I just moved from New York to New Jersey. At the new hospital I work at, if the census is low they would call people off. But how they do it here is very different from NY.

At the new hospital, if the census was low, they would rotate who got called off, and you did NOT have a choice whether or not to come in. You could either take vacation time for those hours, or just not get paid at all if you don't have any vacation time.

In NY, if census was low, they would OFFER you the day off. You had the right to say yes or no. If you didn't want to be called off, they would just move down the list.

I don't know what the policies are in NJ. I looked though the NJDON and other state offices and couldn't find any information.

My biggest concern is that I'm part time and just started. I'm afraid I'm going to loose my hours and pay because I don't have any vacation time saved up...

Does anyone elses hospital work like this? It is legal?

[PostOpPrincess, BSN, RN]

I work in a non-union hospital. First, I work in RR so the chances of getting called off is pretty slim. We average a lot of surgeries daily, and if it is slow, we consider it a break. We still have a lot of elective surgeries, and believe it or not, all the staff from other area hospitals (especially where they are union) come to MY hospital to have surgery. Indeed, I have no problem saying we are a "factory" and have a good reputation in the community....honestly, sometimes too good, but that's a different thread.....

However, when I worked in ICU, there was always a list of those who wanted to be called off. It was always the same group of people who didn't mind, so many of the ones who wanted to work would come in. It worked well.

When those on that list decided they didn't want to be called off as often (especially during the holidays when things slow down) another list was started with the specific dates of the last call off. If they decided to take the call off, they would stay home, and the names would rotate. If they didn't, they were offered a chance to work in another department that needed help--if they choose to/were crossed trained to. Always a VERY GOOD IDEA to cross train. Many of the ICU nurses were ER trained, so frequently they would float there to make up their hours. It also gave the ER nurses a break to be "called off" because the ER was always SO busy, and things never slowed down.

It worked well for and still works really well for everyone. Perhaps you can bring this up in your department and give it a try?

[rghbsn, BSN, RN]

Our units and floors have low census rules that put nurses on call...so they call whoever is next on the list (same idea most of the above posts have) and ask if they want call. If nobody wants it, whoever's turn it is is mandated to take it. Call pay is only $1/hr...and I work nights, so the sleep sucks waiting to be called in.

I am a flight nurse and ground transport nurse now, and we pretty much don't ever get sent home.

[shbryer]

Oh boy, Have you touch on my problem. I work at a hospital where the census has been low for awhile. I am out of any PTO or anything else to get me paid. I have been getting abou48 hrs. every 2 weeks for the past few months and Have a hard time paying bills with that. MY thing is ----If I am obligated to give them full time hrs. --like I signed up for --- WHY are they not obligated to give me the same. They said they need full-time then put you working part-time hrs. and get away with it. Is it legal or is it a lawsuit. I live in Texas and there is no union but I do have a lawyer.

[mlok]

I am currently unemployed, but at the hospital I did my preceptorship if the census was low they rotate who got called off. But before they checked the list for the next person to go home they would ask the nurses for volunteers. If no one volunteered, they would refer to the list for the next person to go home.

Lets say you volunteered to go home. Then the next time it was your turn on the list to be called off... you would still have to go home regardless if you previously volunteered. Volunteering is volunteering but their list was finite. I thought it was fair.

[shbryer]

We are not allowed to volunteer. We have to take our turn.