Can an RN be fired for being immunocompromised?

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I was just wondering if your employer can fire you for having a medical condition, such as MS, which causes you to be immunocompromised. My best friend works in the same hospital and on the same unit as me and she was recently diagnosed with MS. She deciced to tell our boss that she had the condition and asked if they would adjust the attendance policy for her since it's strictly enforced at our hospital.

Once you call out 3 times in 3 months you must go 90 shifts without a single call out (which is just over 7 months if you're full-time, 11 months part-time, and 1yr and 10months PRN) or you are written up, suspended, and then terminated. Just to give you an idea I received a verbal warning for calling out last year sometime, then I called out twice in February (and was written up) and once in June (suspended) and have had no call outs since. However I can't call out again until May 2011 or I will be fired.

Anyway, our boss said that the hospital would make no accommodations for her, would not adjust the attendance policy for her and would not accept any doctors notes under any circumstances. She then went on to say that she could technically fire my friend right then and there because she shouldn't be working in a hospital setting anyway since she's immunocompromised. Oh, and MS isn't covered under the ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act)? Something just doesn't seem right about this situation....

Any input would be greatly appreciated!

Specializes in Emergency.

Anyone want to guess that its a for profit hospital?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

The law is that the hospital cannot fire her for having a diagnosis of MS if she is still able to meet the demands of the job with reasonable accommodation. It can also not base hiring decisions on the presence of a disabling condition but it is not required to deviate from accepted standards of job duties/physical demands to create a condition of reasonable accommodation.

It CAN terminate employment for failure to meet conditions of employment, e.g. adherence to attendance policies, even if absences are due to disability already known and otherwise accepted by the employer. They would not be firing her because of the disability but because she violated policy. Although the ADA calls for reasonable accommodation in the workplace, employers are allowed to determine what is reasonable for them.

They would get away with termination for violating attendance policy in her case only if they treat all employees the same way, however. If everyone is expected to meet the same standard and they have documented evidence that able-bodies employees have also been consistently terminated for violating that policy, they are in the clear.

They cannot fire her solely because she is immunocompromised UNLESS your friend is making a big deal out of it and insists on presenting herself as at risk from her employment. Many people are immunocompromised, either through chronic illness or corticosteroid use or what have you. It generally does not become an issue unless the immunocompromised person makes it one. Your friend needs to tread lightly here. If she continues to portray herself as unable to meet the demands of the job, the hospital will be within their rights to terminate her.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ER/Ortho.

We get 8 times in a year before we are fired, and thats a rolling 12 months not a straight forward 12 months. The 8 times are occurrences. An occurrence is when you call out, but the entire amount of time you are out (#of days) is only one occurrence as long as it concurrent. After 3 days you NEED a Dr's note, and after so many days you would need to file for short term or something. You do get a verbal after 3, a written after 6 etc.

Anyway, I am a new nurse, and was so shocked by how insensitive this profession is. I was in the corporate world before this, and they were far more kind with attendance. I missed tons when my children were little and always sick. I would have never survived as a nurse back then.

As far as I understand it doesn't matter if you have a Dr's note, a car wreck, your kid is near death, your in the hospital, in a coma, your house burned down...its still an occurrence.

Recently we had a patient who had lice, and one of the employees caught lice from the patient. She discovered this just prior to her next shift, and called in because she didn't want to transmit lice to the patients, and other employees. She then went to the store, and bought the stuff to treat the lice, did so and returned to work on her next shift.

This was still considered an occurrence even though she caught the lice at work from a patient who was known to have them, and she was required to care for.

For a group of people who are so smart, and worked so hard to get to where we are we sure do let the establishment walk all over us. Why aren't nurses as a whole doing more to stand up for our rights.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Anyone want to guess that its a for profit hospital?

Haha...how'd you know!!??

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Your friend needs to tread lightly here. If she continues to portray herself as unable to meet the demands of the job, the hospital will be within their rights to terminate her.

I would agree with you but she's doing the exact opposite. Unfortunately due to the ridiculous attendance policy she is only trying to protect herself IN CASE she has to call out. Management keeps telling her to just take a leave of absence but she keeps telling them that she doesn't need or want weeks off at a time, plus her job isn't secure if she does that. The whole immunocompromised issue was brought up by our manager after my friend asked if she would accept doctors notes when/if she had an exacerbation. Our boss said no and then out of the blue told her that she could technically fire her right then and there because she was immunosuppressed and therefore shouldn't be working in a hospital setting.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in School Nursing.

What a terrible sick policy.. Are you not all adults there? Is this normal in the nursing field? Do they not give you more PAID sick leave than this in a years time? This type of abuse, imho, is why UNIONS are so necessary still today.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
I would agree with you but she's doing the exact opposite. Unfortunately due to the ridiculous attendance policy she is only trying to protect herself IN CASE she has to call out. Management keeps telling her to just take a leave of absence but she keeps telling them that she doesn't need or want weeks off at a time, plus her job isn't secure if she does that. The whole immunocompromised issue was brought up by our manager after my friend asked if she would accept doctors notes when/if she had an exacerbation. Our boss said no and then out of the blue told her that she could technically fire her right then and there because she was immunosuppressed and therefore shouldn't be working in a hospital setting.

Okay, I get ya now. You are correct. The manager is assuming that MS will make her unsuitable for hospital employment due to the potential for immunocompromise. That is a risk that the employee assumes knowingly, and MS sufferers are not the only immunocompromised employees in existence. Further, the manager cannot terminate her because she might be treated with steroids in the future. It would be discriminatory for the manager to fire her because she might develop a compromising condition at some point down the road. We could all be fired right now if that were to be allowed!

Unfortunately, she is still subject to the attendance policy. As I said before, the hospital has no obligation to alter attendance expectations as reasonable accommodation. Each employer can decide for itself what it considers to be reasonable, and I think that everyone would agree that adjusting attendance policies case by case for everyone who needs accommodation would become highly unreasonable very quickly.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
What a terrible sick policy.. Are you not all adults there? Is this normal in the nursing field? Do they not give you more PAID sick leave than this in a years time? This type of abuse, imho, is why UNIONS are so necessary still today.

It's up to each employer. That said, it used to be that we got far more paid sick time, as well as unpaid sick time, personal days, ETO, many more paid holidays a year, etc. It's all about cost containment now and all of the staff-level perks are gone. The best collective bargaining available might not be able to change that, but then that's not what union representation is supposed to be about.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Health Information Management.

So is your friend part time or PRN? Or has she not worked at the facility long enough to qualify for FMLA?

Up Vote Up Vote ×

wrote something in rage, thought better of it. :)

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Critical Care.

Sounds like the OP needs to find a better company to work for...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU of all kinds, CVICU, Cath Lab, ER..

I was waiting until after things were decided; this subject prompts me to speak out. I was diagnosed with Parkinson's approximately 6 years ago (we suspect this year is actually year ten).

After the initial shock, I decided to let my employer know (through our nurse manager) about my illness; she was gracious and concerned and made the statement that if I got to a point where I needed accomodations about bedside nursing then the hospital would find me (implied creation) a position which would be less demanding physically.

I went to work sick, dizzy, frightened by the changes in my physical being; worried about my future. I wrote an article about PD for the newsletter and received a cash award and many, many compliments. In all that time, I only received one nasty comment by a physician from Russia who was "repulsed" by my physical being (and my use of a scooter to navigate the long distance from parking to the unit)-I never asked for any special treatment and I frequently volunteered for a third patient. Towards what was to be my last six months at work, I began to walk tilted to the right from my waist. All the tests were negative for stroke but the physical changes took over with a vengence.

Schedules changing proved to be the impetus for me to go per diem/prn. My patients were wonderful and I would answer their quetions honestly if they asked. Families were good to me. I loved my job even more - I went to every critical care area imagenable and I felt awake and competent. My neurologist prescribed a combination of two drugs which eliminated the drool and tremors. I would occasionally walk with the tilt but usually it was when I was tired.

Things came to a head when a charge nurse I had no complaints about before suddenly began to treat me very badly - specifically calling me a cow; pushing me out of her way as she tried to move around the bottom of my patient's bed; mouthing criticism of the ER physician while she was helping with an emergency in the room. When I confronted her about her comments (not listed here) she lost it but when I warned her about pushing me in the future (two frightened nurses within earshot) she apologized. The next time I worked with her, she had imposed rules for her shift; specifically the RN must stay in patient's room where computer on wheels remained despite severe and frequent loss of signal resulted in loss of computerized information.

When I gave report in the morning, I advised oncoming staff and new charge that I would be going to the main hospital that afternoon to enter the new 4 hour assessment form which had just been introduced - I also always had someone check my computer input (even the night charge despite her sarcasm and negative attitude) - at one point, this same charge proved that as a "float", my access to computerized entries was different from one critical care area to another -this issue was not followed up by my supervisor as she promised.

Later that afternoon, I was called and invited to come to my boss's office (my comment was "are you terminating me" since I knew something was being done below the radar....) I was terminated for sleeping on duty which I vehemently denied ..... the unit clerk could see me in the room and she assured me she had NOT seen any sleeping on my part...just the patient (who became very slightly disoriented when awakened for necessary care.

Now, to help you. The Americans with disabilities act (a federal act) applies to every state. It has six categories (including one called retaliation) which invite the disabled person to spell out what they felt compelled to report...in my case, the termination was based on the charge's write up in which she stated she went into the room because alarms for pulse ox were not being addressed - she stated she had to shake me vigorously. I can promise you that I was most attentive to this patient - we were enjoying the evening (sounds casual but it isn't...she was doing very well) - and if the charge nurse had touched me, I would have had her up on charges since the last time she put her hands on me twice, her friend, my boss asked me as a favor NOT to write her up (and I stupidly complied).

Just so it is known, the EEOC enforces the rules and they are backed up approximately 12 months (down from 24)...my attorney (and you should hire one even if it means spending time and money to find one) is also a RN; he is wonderful and I am thankful for him. My complaint (among the four not listed here) is that I had never slept nor been written up, never had any conversation about sleeping - there are several nurses who are known for sleeping on duty and one in fact slept (and was observed) for three hours at the nursing station...they woke her and sent her home....can you see the pattern of unfair treatment? My complaint is so uncomplicated compared to yours. I wanted to share with you the fact that you do have something to help you continue to work. I am here as a support too. God bless and good luck.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Add a Comment