Blacklisted from HCA

[nursingsprettycool17]

So I talked to a recruiter from HealthTrust and they said that I was banned from working at HCA ever again because I broke my StaRn contract years ago. Is this legal? Nowhere in the contract did it mention that I would be black listed if I broke it. All it said was that I had to pay them back $10,000 pro-rated. Could I get a lawyer and sue for wrongful employment practices? and my second question is: if I absolutely can’t work as an RN at HCA anymore, could I just work at HCA again as an NP or MD or CRNA or even Perfusionist? I don’t believe any of these licenses are directly  “employed” by hospitals but have their own groups that are then contracted by the hospitals. could I work for HCA again in the future that way? 

[chare]

16 minutes ago, Hoosier_RN said:

Me too LOL. But that supposed HR person from HCA was trippy to say the very least. Maybe now, some will understand why we say no real pictures, or names. Who knows if that poster was for real, but just goes to show that eyes and ears are everywhere. ...

I Googled the name in the e-mail address provided, and her LinkedIn page states she us currently Vice President, Human Resources, HealthTrust Workforce Solutions.  Whether she was actually the person that posted, or if someone spoofed her email is unknown.

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

Of course people should read their contracts. However, that doesn't make a process that is becoming ever more widespread (making your first job contingent upon signing a contract that means you owe the company money if your leave or are terminated for years in the future) is "okay".  Consider, for example that the central Florida market is dominated by only a few key hospital systems HCA and Adventist Health (aka Florida Hospital).  If both of those systems "adopt" an obligated contract policy and system wide "black lists" then one can effectively be frozen out of much of the state of Florida (good parts of Texas as well) .  Just because something is in a contract doesn't make it okay, which is why we have statutory limitations on interest rates and why we bar things like "indentured servitude" which were once common place.  I'm about as far from Bernie Sanders politically as you can get, but big business is every bit as pernicious as big government and both should be seen as essential threats to our liberty.

[JKL33]

30 minutes ago, chare said:

Whether she was actually the person that posted, or if someone spoofed her email is unknown.

Either seems quite plausible and I'm not sure which of the two would put the company in a better light. If it was indeed posted by someone other than the named person, all that means is that there continues to not be any official refutation of the rumor.

[londonflo]

1 hour ago, Hoosier_RN said:

Who knows if that poster was for real, but just goes to show that eyes and ears are everywhere

Elizabeth the 1st had a great spy system throughout her subjects. 

Here she is painted with her "eyes and ears" gown as a warning.

[amoLucia]

londonflo - I'm an Elizabeth I anglophile! This is new to me. Will investigate.

[londonflo]

19 minutes ago, amoLucia said:

I'm an Elizabeth I anglophile! This is new to me. Will investigate.

It is the Rainbow portrait and is at Hatfield House, complete with serpent and ageless beauty as this was painted a couple of years before she died.

[chare]

7 minutes ago, londonflo said:

It is the Rainbow portrait and is at Hatfield House, complete with serpent and ageless beauty as this was painted a couple of years before she died.

Portraits of Elizabeth I

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

Don't kid yourself folks HCA is always watching. I remember a case where a client on a home ventilator was mistakenly admitted to a PCU floor (our PCU's did not take vents) and was left there a week before they coded and moved to ICU (depite many RN's pleading the client be transferred, and told that there "were not any ICU beds"). I was told by several senior charge nurses that all records that the client had ever been admitted to an inappropriate unit disappeared there was literally never any record of the inappropriate care and admission.  Just another day.  Would they stop at that or go much further?  I have told my wife that I prefer to post with my real name but she honestly fears for our safety and would prefer I not post at all. I have thought about protesting in front of the hospital as sort of "a hobby", but she indicates that she honestly believes they would endeavor to have me Baker Acted (involuntarily placed on a psychiatric hold per Florida law).  

[Kitiger, RN]

11 hours ago, JKL33 said:

I think most of us do know that people should read their contracts. I'm betting a lot more people would think twice about them (or not so easily assume everything's going to be okay) if there was any degree of truthful disclosure whatsoever. Any prospective employee doesn't really know what these floors are going to be like--especially someone seeking their first job as an RN--and they damn sure don't know that "you must pay back a prorated amount if you leave before two years" actually means "you must pay back a prorated amount and we will throw a ginormous.baby.fit and you will not be able to work at these 20 other huge entities of ours all over this very large region, forever.

You put that very well.

I'm savvy enough now, but I would not have known this as a new nurse.

[londonflo]

 

42 minutes ago, chare said:

Portraits of Elizabeth I

It is too bad the rainbow colors have faded as it looks like she is holding a hula hoop or tubing. Symbolism is right!

[Littleblackdog, ADN, BSN, RN]

On 9/7/2020 at 11:55 AM, nursingsprettycool17 said:

it turns out that HCA is playing some type of monopoly game where it basically owns almost all of the hospitals on the entire east coast of america. it’s annoying because not being employable by them actually hurts my flexibility and job prospects because I want to start doing travel nursing soon. ?

Hi, nursingsprettycool17, 

I know what you mean about HCA, I worked for them in hospitals for 34 years, here in Nashville, where their headquarters is located, they own almost everything in town, and I understand it's that way in other areas (like yours) too.  Please see an attorney and try to find out who might have experience with this sort of thing, I am sure that corporate HCA has a whole slew of attorneys whose job it is to win every battle that comes their way.  They are a selfish company. Keep us posted, please.  And good luck to you!

[Littleblackdog, ADN, BSN, RN]

On 9/7/2020 at 2:12 PM, JKL33 said:

This is why it would be great if people wouldn't excuse these types of contracts or think of them as normal/reasonable. They are completely one-sided AEB the fact that the new grad has no ability to negotiate anything about them. If the prospective employer promises a "residency" that turns out to be the worst excuse for a residency in the entire world....oh well! This is a debt incurred solely for the privilege of working somewhere and nothing more is guaranteed to the point that one could be compensated if it deviates from what was discussed.

I don't buy anything about wanting employees who keep their end of the bargain. What they want is to have their cake and also the law on their side so that they can eat it, too. I mean, basically no matter how utterly craptastic their place is, they are considered to have kept their word. Which is sheer bull-onely.

It would be nice if eventually they had blackballed so many people that they'd have to stop this crap, but there's no chance of that happening with innumerable schools pumping out nurses because of the "nursing shortage."

 

You are exactly right: they want their cake and to eat it, too, Always have, always will.  Not the best company to work for; they are ALL about the $ and not at all about their staff and not much about the patient.