Calling in sick??

Nurses General Nursing

Published

You are reading page 4 of Calling in sick??

LUVtxNursing

104 Posts

Oh yes, one more thing! This new Director called in to our floor last week and told us that she wouldn't be in that day because SHE needed to spend some time with HER daughter!! That's right, she's not sick, daughter's not sick, just spending time!! Okay, well I guess the mentality is she's paid her dues on the floor, so she's earned the right to do this, but I really don't see it that way, mainly because something always goes down and when she's not there to turn to, it makes things real difficult, especially since she's the Director of both Tele and Med/Surg!! Thanks for listening!!

Atl_John

216 Posts

Specializes in Pulmonology/Critical Care, Internal Med.

God that sucks......maybe you should take this to the person above her, or as you said HR.

smiles04

97 Posts

Here's my take. Dont take off unles you have to. If your married with small children try a prn or hm health etc job where you can give them your hrs. I know kids get sick but if you really get down to the root of it and are honest with yourself you may say these were good excuses to call in because the moral stinks and the job isnt great. Your prob overworked and getting burnt out. Im really reaching and this may not be the case but I think weve all been close to this scenario. good luck sounds like a change a pace might be up your aley. My goodness do you realize your options as a nurse. get out before you get fired and find something your happy with. Get a awesome resume together and just fax it out. everytime I send mine out even though I have a good job I get tons of responses. Ladies and gents were in demand. Be happy. good luck god bless.

NurseAngie

355 Posts

Specializes in Perinatal/neonatal.

To the OP...I can relate...I have had to miss on several occasions because my toddler has been sick a lot too thanks to daycare. I'm so lucky to have a supervisor that is understanding and supportive. She cares for her elderly mother and is a mom herself, so she has never given me any grief over my call-outs. I am so grateful!

smiles04

97 Posts

Sorry missed the last update. Im telling you they wont budge take it or leave it. They arent afraid to fire you. you dont want that. The more waves you make the easier it will be to fire you. Dont mean to scare you but Ive seen this a bunch. I hate it. Its so unfair, and until us nurses form a fantastically strong union large hospitals willl cont to wave the heavy hand. good luck. go work where you are reallly appreciated.

Crux1024

985 Posts

Specializes in Cardiac Telemetry, Emergency, SAFE.
Well, a little update on my situation. Today I went to HR to inquire about FMLA for my abscences with my son. The first thing the HR lady asked me was, "how long have you been here?" I told her 9 months, she said, "Oh, you have to be here one year to file FMLA!!" I really thought this was a federal law that was to protect you from being terminated for missing work due to a chronic illness, or sick family member? How can they put a time limit on a LAW??

Its not that theyre putting a time limit on the law. Its the Government telling you that they WONT protect your job due to absense/illness until you have put in your time (1 year and around 1250 hrs in that year) So even if you had a year, depending on the number of hours worked, you may find that you still may be ineligible for FMLA.

But dont give up hope! Good Luck.

This website may help clarify things for you: http://www.dol.gov/elaws/esa/fmla/faq.asp

pagandeva2000, LPN

7,984 Posts

Specializes in Community Health, Med-Surg, Home Health.

Sad to say, but this is probably why I'll hang out at my city job. They threaten us all the time, but we don't really care...they just do their thing. It takes quite alot to fire a civil service worker...that can be a good thing or a bad thing.

ElizabethJRN

113 Posts

Specializes in MICU, CCRN.

WOW, we get away with murder on our unit! As long as you have the vacation hours, you can call in, no need to explain why you are calling in. No one cares. The empty spot always gets covered. Wow, I never knew how bad it is elsewhere!

DeLySh

76 Posts

Specializes in NICU.

I know this will probably ruffle a few feathers but I wanted to jump in with a different point of view. From an employer's point of view, the more you call out, the more unreliable you become. The employer is running a business and, yes, they have to understand that the employees are human and will get sick but they also have to understand how the business suffers when employees are unreliable. (I am not talking about your competence as a nurse but your reliability to be there when you agreed to be.)

From the employers standpoint, you have worked there in a per diem role for 9 months and have missed 7 times. Even though you weren't notified that you would be written up, you have to know that your employer might start looking at you as an unreliable employee. It sucks on both sides of the coin. If your current manager/director sees you this way and passes the information on to the next one when you apply for a new position within the same organization, the new manager/director may be very hesitant to take you on as they may be concerned with your reliability. Does that make sense?

I know I wasn't there and can't possibly know all aspects of your situation and I know that sometimes absences can't be helped, but can you see how the employer might view it? I don't think they mean their actions as a way to get back at you or to punish you forever and I would bet that if you were to keep your absences to a very minimum for a while, you would be as good as new. As for the employers who get on their employees for one or two absences, well, I'll keep my nastiness to myself.

Take care and good luck.

LUVtxNursing

104 Posts

I know this will probably ruffle a few feathers but I wanted to jump in with a different point of view. From an employer's point of view, the more you call out, the more unreliable you become. The employer is running a business and, yes, they have to understand that the employees are human and will get sick but they also have to understand how the business suffers when employees are unreliable. (I am not talking about your competence as a nurse but your reliability to be there when you agreed to be.)

From the employers standpoint, you have worked there in a per diem role for 9 months and have missed 7 times. Even though you weren't notified that you would be written up, you have to know that your employer might start looking at you as an unreliable employee. It sucks on both sides of the coin. If your current manager/director sees you this way and passes the information on to the next one when you apply for a new position within the same organization, the new manager/director may be very hesitant to take you on as they may be concerned with your reliability. Does that make sense?

I know I wasn't there and can't possibly know all aspects of your situation and I know that sometimes absences can't be helped, but can you see how the employer might view it? I don't think they mean their actions as a way to get back at you or to punish you forever and I would bet that if you were to keep your absences to a very minimum for a while, you would be as good as new. As for the employers who get on their employees for one or two absences, well, I'll keep my nastiness to myself.

Take care and good luck.

Yes, this makes sense. I always try to look at things from both sides, but what kinda threw me off here was the fact that she's writing people up for things that occurred before she took over! I think if it were me, and I was in her shoes, I would first give a verbal warning, and then make it VERY clear that another abscence would require a write up, but that's just me! I have thought about doing Agency, I think it would work out better for me, with school, and my home life. I was just really hoping my transfer would go through since OB is where I have always wanted to be. I am going to talk to the Director of OB and try to explain my situation and hope she gives me a chance!! I have talked to my husband, mother, and mother-in-law told them I really need a backup plan in case my little one gets sick again because I cannot keep missing work, so I think I'll have a little more backup next time. I probably could have called on them before to help, but the my Director at the time seemed to be understanding, and again never explained the policy to me, if he had, I probably would have put more effort into finding someone to stay with him. Well, again, thanks for all of the WONDERFUL advice, I'll continue to keep ya updated on things!!

Plagueis

514 Posts

One thing I would suggest is that dad stay home with the sick kids every once in a while. I work with a lot of nurses who look at me like I am insane when I suggest this to them. My husband stayed home some of the time when our duaghter was sick. This way neither of us ever got into trouble with too many call ins for a sick child and we also had enough sick days to use when we were actually sick ourselves. Obviously this is only feasible when both parents (or at least two adults) are involved in raising the child. I understand there are a lot of single parents out there who have no choice but to call in when their child is sick. At work, it seems that the ones who gripe the most about how unfair the attendance policy is are the nurses who wouldn't dream of having their husband stay home with the sick child.

I am a single parent who doesn't have a significant other as backup to stay home with a sick child. We have more single parents than ever these days, and they may not have someone available all day to take over if a child becomes ill. While my child is a teenager now, I can't believe that employers still expect parents to come to work if they have a sick child. The sick policy where I work is for 15 days a year, and it applies not only to sickness for me, but it covers illnesses for children and other immediate family members. Since the policy is for 15 days, my employer can't really argue excessiveness until we go over 15. If employers don't like the idea of people calling out (or in) because of sick children, then they shouldn't hire parents (which I know is against the law), but since that is discrimination, employers should wake up to the fact that many of us are parents, and they should have a policy of sick days that specifies exactly what constitutes excessive absences, and list exactly how many sick days are allowed a year. (These should also cover illnesses for family members.)

LUVtxNursing

104 Posts

Well, as far as having my husband stay home with my son, we thought about that, but came to the conclusion that he makes ALOT more money than I do right now, and again, I didn't know it was a problem since the policy was never explained to me. Plus, when you're up with a little one ALL NIGHT, it makes it REAL hard to got to work and function in a safe manner!! I guess like one poster said, since the morale is REAL low on our floor, and I was stressed to the MAX dealing with extremely high nurse/patient ratios, CNA's that are never around when you need them, etc., it just made it all the more easy for me to call in. Maybe if things were better, and I wasn't so stressed at work, then I probably could have made it in, but not the way things are on my floor. I guess that is why I'm so upset about the possibility of not getting the job in OB, because I know things are much better on that floor and I would probably be more motivated to come to work, but again, if my little boy gets that sick again, well I just feel I need to be with him, that's the Nurse and the mother in me I guess!

+ Add a Comment