Blacklisted from HCA

Nurses General Nursing

Published

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? 

Specializes in Dialysis.
15 minutes ago, Littleblackdog said:

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.

Its sad, because honestly, most hospitals are like that, some are just more obvious about it 

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On 9/14/2020 at 9:11 AM, JKL33 said:

Sure it is! LOL. There's a lot more access to unofficial information but unless you have the inside scoop you will still know exceedingly little of the reality. Take this very thread. We're essentially discussing rumors....discussing an experience just about everyone has "heard of" someone having. And here comes an HR employee of the company dropping right in here to say oh dear, I'm so concerned to hear all of this because these things are not true....

Anyway.

Sorry. Guess I don't really have anything to say other than to repeat myself.

well said!

Just now, Hoosier_RN said:

Its sad, because honestly, most hospitals are like that, some are just more obvious about it 

Good point you make!  HCA no doubt has a huge legal department so they can "afford" to be more obvious about it than most, I guess.

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Specializes in ICU, trauma, neuro.

Here is what I don't understand:

Nurse "a" starts at HCA in the STAR program and leaves after a year (having received no bonus. For the sake of discussion lets assume they "repay" the ridiculous amount. They give at least "two weeks notice", but they are still placed on a "do not rehire" list.

Nurse "b" call them me starts at HCA in 2010 and works in the "overflow" for two years. Then I go to ICU where I receive about eight weeks orientation (never did complete my online courses) work there another seven years with a confrontational attitude towards management (many in management either considered me amusing or a psychopath) and highly associated with the union,  and then leaves (giving about two weeks notice) and yet they contact me at least monthly urging me to reapply (even though I'm now an NP).  What did person "a" get that makes them so notorious that person "b" didn't? Why does the STAR program make someone so despised if they leave early ESPECIALLY when they pay the money back? Maybe HCA has "a thing" for psychopaths? Maybe they think I might have good management potential given their past history?

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Specializes in CVICU.
1 hour ago, myoglobin said:

Here is what I don't understand:

Nurse "a" starts at HCA in the STAR program and leaves after a year (having received no bonus. For the sake of discussion lets assume they "repay" the ridiculous amount. They give at least "two weeks notice", but they are still placed on a "do not rehire" list.

Nurse "b" call them me starts at HCA in 2010 and works in the "overflow" for two years. Then I go to ICU where I receive about eight weeks orientation (never did complete my online courses) work there another seven years with a confrontational attitude towards management (many in management either considered me amusing or a psychopath) and highly associated with the union,  and then leaves (giving about two weeks notice) and yet they contact me at least monthly urging me to reapply (even though I'm now an NP).  What did person "a" get that makes them so notorious that person "b" didn't? Why does the STAR program make someone so despised if they leave early ESPECIALLY when they pay the money back? Maybe HCA has "a thing" for psychopaths? Maybe they think I might have good management potential given their past history?

whats funny is this is actually true, when I worked at hca there were many nurses with hundreds of write ups against them that were still employed regardless. they really value loyalty there. I've never actually seen a bad nurse get fired over there. 

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Specializes in retired LTC.

I truly believe there must be some inherent reason those 'bad' or 'marginal' nurses are held.

They must hold some value for the present admin that is too valuable to give up.

 

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Specializes in Dialysis.
11 hours ago, amoLucia said:

I truly believe there must be some inherent reason those 'bad' or 'marginal' nurses are held.

They must hold some value for the present admin that is too valuable to give up.

 

Usually, that translates to a warm body to fill shifts

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Specializes in retired LTC.
5 hours ago, Hoosier_RN said:

Usually, that translates to a warm body to fill shifts

Yep! One gal I worked with always was avail for last minute call-outs. She always covered the shift - never had to scramble for coverage.

Another gal was kind of like an informant/snitch. Not in a nasty gossipy way, but she was always communicating with the DON about shift goings-on. She was like the eyes & ears for the DON.  

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Specializes in Telemetry.

I am not surprised by the behavior of the administration at the HCA hospitals. The ones in Florida are terrible. They treat the employees really bad. They give them eight and nine patients sometimes. Worst, the nurses dislike agency nurses. They treat them like garbage. I used to work with that group and some Supervisors are horrible. They judge nurses by their skin color. I used to see this special supervisor who does not say hi to me but goes over to the Caucasians and say Hi. I used to ignore her because she is old and miserable. Her mind is eating her away.  Be careful of them, they will laugh with you and tell lies to put you on the blacklist. I was blacklisted at one of the facilities because they tell the agency lies on me. There are evil nurses out there.

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Specializes in Telemetry.
On 9/13/2020 at 9:22 PM, myoglobin said:

I would argue that these "do not hire" lists are ripe for challenge on some (or more) of the following grounds:

1. They often amount to slander or libel and the victim has no ability to even know who their "slanderer" is or what they have said.

2. They may have "disparate impact" that meaning intentionally or not they hurt protected classes such as women, minorities and those with disabilities more than the rest of the population.  Also, since someone doesn't have the knowledge or "due process" afforded by a more open process they may provide "cover" for discrimination on the basis of protected class.  For example my wife was "told" by another manager that she was put on a "do not hire list" by Florida Hospital simply because she aggressively challenged the fact that as a new grad I was offered a bonus and a higher rate of pay than she was with three years of ICU experience (in an ICU no less and we applied at the same time. At the time it was widely felt that Florida Hospital preferred white males in the hiring process and she felt that her experience exemplified this as being the case.).  

3. They may represent "monopolistic abuse of power" especially when the hospital in question is one like HCA the largest for profit hospital system in the world. Also, this is especially the case when they start imposing Grapes of Wrath type policies where in spite of working there you owe them money if you leave.    

Only when these practices are challenged by nursing organizations like the ANA, nursing unions (as part of their contracts), and class action lawsuits along with informal "boycotts" by RN's looking for a new place to work will this process diminish.  If you want more exploitation of children then keep subscribing to Netflix, and if you want more exploitation of nurses then keep applying to HCA.  Sometimes, Netflix may be the only way to get "TV" and HCA may be the only option for a job, but when you have a choice I would argue that it makes sense to find one that is more optimal.

Some HCA hospitals pay black nurses far less than their white counterparts. They treat the black nurses really badly. I have seen white nurses looking like they are on drugs or something being glorified for good work;  however, those nurses are lazy and incompetent. On the other hand,  one black nurse had a discrepancy of a medication which we call glorified Tylenol was blacklisted. I don't know how nurses work at this group of hospitals for years. May God bless their good heart!

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On 9/9/2020 at 7:35 PM, nursingsprettycool17 said:

you’re being really condescending mate. the attitude is uncalled for, what makes you think you can compare me to a child? all I asked was a straightforward question on here I didn’t ask for life lessons. I showed ownership by paying off my contract debt, that was literally the ONLY consequence that they spelled out on the document. any other consequence they dish out is coming from a place of sheer pettiness, not professionalism. you won’t rehire someone that quit? what type of a policy is that? you’re allowed to quit your job for better work opportunities just like they’re allowed to fire you at will. and what is this “reliable” nonsense that you’re spewing? I was plenty reliable when I chose to work for them. my reliability ended when I quit. I can understand if you replace the word reliable with loyal, but even then companies are still only as loyal to their employees as the employee is valuable to them. so all in all its the same thing. 

You just didn't realize the implications of quitting, I guess.  I doubt I would have either.  

You are in a David and Goliath situation.  Ultimately David won, I know.  But I liken your situation to David's because he was little and was facing this giant Goliath.

I am not a lawyer but I think the best thing to do is either try to get your ban undone or move on.  Wishing you all the best.

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On 9/7/2020 at 1:31 PM, nursingsprettycool17 said:

I find it ridiculous because if I paid the $10,000 then how would they not hire me again? I already paid my “training” off? like that’s so petty. and then even as a travel nurse? I wouldn’t even be working for them so it makes no sense. nowhere in their policy did it say that I would be banned, so it feels like misleading policies  or something. and what if I go to a different HCA hospital then the one I quit at? even THEY won’t hire me? in an actual nursing shortage? like come on now for a billion dollar company they’re being really petty about this. 

I worked for a company that was owned by HCA as a per diem nurse. At the time they were Parillon but I believe at some point they were health trust. They are owned by HCA-even though agency-first call last cancel deal with per diem. Yes, they can blacklist you. They do this with anyone who has broken their contract for new nurse training, fired, quit without notice. I don’t know if it applies just to that HCA facility or all of them- but I have heard. If it being a problem for many.

On a positive note-there are much better facilities that need nurses. HCA may be one of or the largest hospital systems in the US-but there are many more. My husband works in FL as a manufacturer rep-there are many hospital groups that are not HCA-which is good for him because HCA is CHEAP when it comes to fixing their broken equipment.

please excuse any typos-autocorrect stinks

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On 9/14/2020 at 1:13 AM, JKL33 said:

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.

I'm a new graduate, and they were going to be my first job before I moved away.  They never told me that if I left before my contract was done that I'd never be able to work for HCA again, but they also didn't have to, because I'm not an idiot.  If you're breaking a contract with a company, why would you expect to be rehirable?

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