Calling off on two week notice?

How good has your current employer been to you? Have they given you a hard time about leaving, or have they accepted gracefully? If I understand things right, if you call out within your two weeks, they can list you as ineligible to rehire (based on what my employer told me when I gave my two weeks). Will you be ok with that, if it came to that?

I'm not sure you have any obligation to your new employer until the agreed-upon start date.

Why do you feel your co-workers would be working short? That would be unfortunate, however you have earned many hours of PTO. I would call off in a heartbeat if my soon to be ex-employee was stealing all that time from me.

You may want to check your current hospital policy. At many facilities, you are not allowed to use any PTO during your last two weeks of notice. If you call out, you may have to take it unpaid.

OP's situation seems odd. I have only worked with organizations in which PTO was actually accrued time (X number of hours per pay period), so it's $ that is actually owed to the employee and must be paid when they terminate. Seems very odd to me.

We would not get paid for calling off and marked ineligible for rehire.

I think that paying out sick time varies. We only get a portion of it as our sick time accrues forever without a cap. If I were to quit right now my hospital would owe me 9.5 months of pay. That would be nice lol

I would hope your new "bosses" might be impressed if you honestly told them you can't get someone to cover your shift at your old job and you can't in good consciousness call off?

I'm not sure what a "benefit" is? Maybe it can be video taped and you can watch it later?

You really cannot find anyone to cover the few hours you need to make the benefit?

If it were me, and this is really how I operate, I would tell them that zero coverage is available and that I need to honor my commitment.

However, I can see why you need to be at the benefit for optimal formation of relationships, I would do everything I could to get someone to cover me.

And the PTO issue wouldn't enter my decision at all.

The benefit was going to take place whether you accepted the position or not...it was already planned months ago, I'm sure. In my experience PTO and annual leave is time that has been earned by the employee. An employer cannot withhold that from you. They may not approve it for the day you need it (making you take and unpaid/unapproved absence), but they will definitely have to pay it out to you once you resign or terminated. Sick leave is a different story. But, I would check with the policies and procedures of your employer and compare that to the labor laws of your state. Scare tactics are effective only on those who do not bother to read the P&P.

Thank you all for your responses. I will check the policies again to be sure before I make a decision. The feedback you all have provided has been very helpful!

I'll have to look, but I think our policies require you leaving in good standing and working out a notice before they pay out any PTO or pay you for a sick day during your notice.

You've let it out of the bag by asking other people to cover you that you need the day off, so if you call in sick, they will be wise to that and not pay your PTO.

Of course you can always do the "what are they going to do? Fire me?" and blow them off and call off sick. Or you can work out your notice and inform your new employer you won't be able to start until you hire date and let the chips fall where they may which is what I personally would do. Surely you're new employer will respect you being an adult and dedicated worker.