Call Offs

Pill Hoarding Hussy · Mar 18, 2005

Our new DON at a LTC facility I work at just announced to the staff a couple of days ago about a new policy she has in place. She states that if you call off sick for any reason whatsoever, even if you have a doctor's excuse, that you have to call another employee to get coverage for the shift you are suppose to work and if no one covers your shift or you don't come in to work then you get wrote up, 3 write ups and your gone. A lot of people are furious where I work about this, including me. In the employee handbook, it states that you need to call in 2 hours or more before you are scheduled to work, and after 2 absences a doctor's note is needed. What is the policy where you work?
Also, how do you prioritize family and work. She states that this facility and the patients should come first? Do you put your patients 1st, then your family 2nd?

that is a rediculous policy! seek employment elsewhere. while i am at work, my pts come first. while i am at home, my family comes first. we are nurses but we are also human beings. falliable and frail. we get sick and have family crises too! maybe suggest to your don that she employ robots instead. then she would not have to deal with people calling sick! it seems that that policy does not respect the humanity of nurses, we have lives outside of hospital!

nurseangel78 · Mar 18, 2005

that is a rediculous policy! seek employment elsewhere. while i am at work, my pts come first. while i am at home, my family comes first. we are nurses but we are also human beings. falliable and frail. we get sick and have family crises too! maybe suggest to your don that she employ robots instead. then she would not have to deal with people calling sick! it seems that that policy does not respect the humanity of nurses, we have lives outside of hospital!

I totally agree with you, we are human beings too, and things happen to us in our lives or families lives that prevent us from working sometimes. I believe this policy is stupid and disrespectful to all of the employees. I wanted to work at this job until I became an RN, but it just does not look like it. There have been so many problems already with this new DON and shes only been there a couple of months. She's trying to take control of everything and everybody in a BAD way!

KRVRN, BSN, RN · Mar 18, 2005

A BAD policy. It sounds like she is expecting the staff to call off sick for reasons other than being sick and she is trying to deter people from doing that. It's ridiculous to have to be calling coworkers at 0400 or 0500 to find coverage for yourself. And if no one else will come in for you, she expects you to come in yourself to avoid a write up?? She's asking for trouble. Guess what's going to happen during cold/flu season?! Sick employees at work and lots of write ups.

My hospital's policy is as your handbook states, except we don't need a doctor's note until the 4th absence.

My family and I come first if I'm not at work. You don't have enough staff because of sick calls? Guess whose problem that AIN'T!

SmilingBluEyes · Mar 18, 2005

wow some places are reall hellholes to work aren't they? I would be looking for something else if they did this where I work. I am sorry this is happening there. It's wrong, just another way to screw nurses/workers. NOT RIGHT. Bad policy.

LPN_mn · Mar 18, 2005

If you are in a LTC facility then you have a chain of command. Go to the administrator and if that doesn't help then go on up to the corporate office and when the owner finds out nurses are looking for other jobs d/t this kind of stupid policy my guess is that they will get it straightened out. You would be surprised at the things you can get accomplished by writing letters to the head of the corporation, and always keep a copy for yourself.

Tweety, BSN, RN · Mar 18, 2005

Two words about that policy **** ****

(Won't violate the TOS but use your imagination.)

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Mar 18, 2005

Give proper notice and get the **** out. That is completely ridiculous and will only drive staff apartand ruin relationships. Really, I do hope you can find something else. This policy will never work, but it could be a long and painful process. Good luck to you.

directcare4me · Mar 18, 2005

Definitely unreasonable and inappropriate in the extreme. She is being very blatant about "expecting" staff to abuse sick leave. This type of leadership does not inspire, only beats down. Family always comes first. Always. Even if I am at work, if I were to get a call about a family emergency I would have to put family first and leave work. Our work is important, and it can place a heavy burden on co-workers to pick up the slack, but things happen, and I hope that none of my co-workers would ever place our unit above their own families. And I do not believe in going to work while sick; I don't like it when my co-workers do it, and I don't do it.

stidget99 · Mar 18, 2005

Plain and simple....my family and my health comes first. I am loyal to my job. But, if I don't watch out for myself, who will?

talaxandra · Mar 18, 2005

We have the same conditions across the state, at least in the public system - three single days a year without certificate, three single days per year with a stat dec, and accruable sick leave to a total of fifteen days per year for new graduate through to (I think) eighteen days a year for senior staff. With almost sixteen years in I have around a thousand hours available if I break my leg or something.

We need to call in at least two hours before the beginning of an afternoon or night shift, and within two hours of the commencement of a morning shift (but anyone who rang later than six AM for a seven o'clock start would be very unpopular).

It's also frowned upon for admin to ring the nurse at home and ask why they're having sick leave, how much longer they're going to be, or anything lese along those lines. I don't know if it's actually forbidden under the Agreement to do so, but it's certainly avoided.

talaxandra · Mar 18, 2005

Sorry, forgot to say that there is no way that work comes before my family or my health. I'm not saying it doesn't place at all, but the idea that you'd rank work first is something only an administrator could seriously suggest!