Hello, I am a Nurse in the State of West Virginia.
We are currently in the wake of Winter Storm Jonas which has left our hospital in a bind with staffing. I am well aware of the mandation laws currently in action for the state of WV. I understand that a nurse can be mandated to work a 16 hour shift if staffing is needed for the safety of the patients, which I have no problem with and will gladly volunteer in this time of need. However, at our specific facility after a nurse has worked a 16 hour shift, management will not let us leave the building, even if we are not scheduled to work for several days, requiring us to sleep here.
They are at this point threatening us with discipline.
I have just worked a 12 hour shift and am not needed to work an additional 4 hours as my replacement has arrived, they have no use for me. They will not let me leave the hospital even though they have no need for me. They say, "they cannot guarantee that I will make it in for my shift tomorrow night and I am not allowed to leave due to this."
Although extreme, I feel that this is somewhat a hostage situation, lol. I live 5 minutes away from the hospital of which I work, I have even said that I can walk to work of for some reason my 4WD lifted truck cannot make the 2.2 mile trip.
This cannot be legal, refusing a nurse from going home if they are not mandated and are not needed. For instance, a nurse worked her scheduled shift this past Friday and was going to leave at 7pm. They told her she was not needed but she was not allowed to leave.
She isn't scheduled to work again until Monday morning and are forcing her to stay here throughout the weekend? I cannot see how this is legal in anyway, and then on top of forcing us to stay they are intimidating us by throwing termination in our face if we leave.
I had a similar experience a few years ago working a 13 wk travel assignment. Because the hospital feared others would not show for work with an approaching hurricane.....team A (as we became) stayed for 4 days. We worked the night shift & clocked out & back in at a lower pay rate when we slept in rotation. So, we were compensated around the clock. I only had 2 wks left in my contract & could have pulled my hair out when this happened! I just had to think about the patients & how they needed us. Luckily we live in the land of the free & can't be forced to stay....but leaving your team short, especially if it impedes the best patient care could be a professional & ethical dilemma. Try putting yourself in the patients situation & view it from that perspective.
Holy *$@#! That is seriously messed up. I live and work in Michigan, and not surprisingly am no stranger to huge wintry hot messes several times a year, and I've never ever heard of any hospital around here mandating nurses, with accommodations or not, to stay because the weather's bad/might be bad. It is considered your responsibility to handle your transportation, and as long as your relief has arrived, you have no obligation to stay. The hospital mandating you to stay once your relief has come because you may not arrive to your next shift is beyond crazy to me, and I would be on the phone with my state board of nursing on my way to my car. And as previously suggested, I would try to get as much of this craziness in writing as possible. Best of luck.
Out of curiosity, where have you heard of this happening in MI before? I've been living and working in the state my whole life and have never heard of this here (outside of like CRBNE training situations for mass casualty disasters).
I believe this is the current WV law: Basically it says in an unforseen circumstances they can require you to stay. But it would seem to me, and I'm not a lawyer, That in anticipated circumstances, but not during an active actual circumstance, they can't make you staywolf5693
I wouldn't consider this an unforseen circumstance either. After all, it's forseen enough to expect staff nurses to make extraordinary effort to get to work. That's why calling out for bad driving conditions isn't well looked upon: "you knew a blizzard was coming." Really, expecting a nurse to get a hotel room close by (if nowhere else to stay) is expecting him/her to work for free out of a sense of duty. A hotel room could be the nurse's wages for one shift, right? I have done that, but my husband also has scads of travel points from work trips, so my hotel room was free. If we'd had to shell out cash, he would not have okayed the hotel room as a household expense.
But anyway, if the blizzard is forseen for the nurse, it can't be unforseen for the hospital. In the OP's case, her replacement showed up. Patients were under the care of the next shift's RN, just like any other day. This hospital was threatening her against leaving, just in case she might possibly be needed the next day.
I don't really see anything in that law that supports these managers' behavior.
I wonder how many people that have children called in sick for that night shift, if they knew they would have to leave the kids home alone if they couldn't leave when day shift was supposed to be there
I wouldn't blame them.
No question, my kids are my #1 priority and will not be left alone. I'll take hot water from my job or even the BON, than over CPS. Any. Day.
What I was thinking, is that it applies once people call out due to the emergency and there is no replacement at that time. But they cannot do it because they expect it, it can only be done once the staffing shortage actually occurs. So far as the penalties, they may not be insignificant. if they do it to 10 people. The first no fine, the second $500, the third to tenth=$2500-$5000 each. Total fine for 10 people=$20,500 to $40,500.
QUOTE=n8leagr8;8878217]Good information @wolf9653.
First off, IANAL. That being said, if I understand this provision correctly, "adverse weather conditions" counts towards "unforeseen emergent situation". So, yes, they can require you to work overtime in that event.
However, if I understand the situation correctly, they are NOT forcing mandatory overtime. They are trying to enforce mandatory stay-for-free time by threatening disciplinary action if you don't. This provision has penalties for forcing or coercing nurses outside of certain situations to do mandatory overtime, but if I read the follow up to OP's post correctly, this is technically "voluntary". As in, volunteer to stay for free and keep your job.
The caveat would be sub-section (e), if a collective bargaining agreement is in place that overrides this. Also, the penalties for being found in violation of this are pretty negligible, so maybe they don't care.
Anyway, my two scents. (And I smell poo.) Hope things turned out favorable for you, OP.
I had no problem with making arrangements to work my shift or covering if the next shift couldn't make it. My problem was their mandated us to remain at the hospital without compensation for our time. I wasn't about to pay for a hotel I couldn't stay in and stay at the hospital on my dime. Not only that but, they did offer meal vouchers but closed the cafeteria at 6:30 Pm for dinner meaning those of us working until 7p we SOL.. My daughter is employed at another hospital in MD. She came in voluntarily when she wasn't scheduled to work to cover for coworkers who had to stay home for their children. Her facility paid her overtime for hours worked beyond her 40 hours and regular time for sleeping. That's how you treat people who step up.
Hopefully your union can sit down with management and come up with a more mutually agreeable disaster plan in the future. I would be surprised the hospital's lawyers allowed them to require you to be there with no compensation, that woulds appear to violate federal labor law. They would at least have to pay you minimum wage for standing around.
I had no problem with making arrangements to work my shift or covering if the next shift couldn't make it. My problem was their mandated us to remain at the hospital without compensation for our time. I wasn't about to pay for a hotel I couldn't stay in and stay at the hospital on my dime. Not only that but, they did offer meal vouchers but closed the cafeteria at 6:30 Pm for dinner meaning those of us working until 7p we SOL.. My daughter is employed at another hospital in MD. She came in voluntarily when she wasn't scheduled to work to cover for coworkers who had to stay home for their children. Her facility paid her overtime for hours worked beyond her 40 hours and regular time for sleeping. That's how you treat people who step up.
mdrn1974
8 Posts
I had a similar experience a few years ago working a 13 wk travel assignment. Because the hospital feared others would not show for work with an approaching hurricane.....team A (as we became) stayed for 4 days. We worked the night shift & clocked out & back in at a lower pay rate when we slept in rotation. So, we were compensated around the clock. I only had 2 wks left in my contract & could have pulled my hair out when this happened! I just had to think about the patients & how they needed us. Luckily we live in the land of the free & can't be forced to stay....but leaving your team short, especially if it impedes the best patient care could be a professional & ethical dilemma. Try putting yourself in the patients situation & view it from that perspective.