Co-workers begging for donated PTO

[Emergent]

Another co-worker out for a few weeks for a legitimate health problem begging for PTO donations. My gripe? She is always calling in, and often begging for people to pick up shifts for one reason or another. In other words, she's used up her PTO bank for personal days.

I feel strongly that people should show up for work, on time, when scheduled. That's what I do. That way you accumulate PTO, instead of using it up and ending up unprepared for a real illness.

Additionally, it's important to live within a budget and have a personal emergency fund, just like Dave Ramsey recommends.

P.S. I know I'm not obligated to donate, and won't be. I do want to bring up the subject of sound financial planning by nurses.

[Not_A_Hat_Person, RN]

I'd consider donating PTO if it was an emergency. My employer doesn't allow it. Between my parents dying 6 weeks apart and me needing surgery right after my father's memorial service, I missed close to 4 weeks on very short notice. Once I exhausted my PTO, I was flat broke.

[HouTx, BSN, MSN, EdD]

As I understand it, PTO donations must be made to a general fund... administered by HR. If they are donated to an individual, the dollar amount is subject to gift taxes that would have to be managed/reported by the employer.

[imintrouble, BSN, RN]

I have a problem donating anything to anybody who lives better than me.

That's because:

1) They simply have more money than me. (Liquidate)

2) They don't consider the rainy day like me.

3) They live beyond their means.

My other problem is that not everybody gets the freebie. There was a campaign where I work a year or two ago. The NM put memos in our mailboxes. A nurse who everybody liked needed hours. It was a serious illness, and she was in serious trouble with it. The memo, that every nurse received, asked for PTO donation.

At the same time. there was a nurse in exactly the same predicament. Only she was quiet, and simply wasn't well liked. Nobody launched a campaign. Nobody suggested donation. As far as I know nobody donated anything to her.

Unless everybody gets the same treatment, donation is at my discretion.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Think about it. 12 hrs of PTO for me adds up to over $400. Would I donate that to a sometimes unpleasant co-worker, who has a husband, enables her drug addict son, and has money for trips to Hawaii?

There's a good Jewish word for that, it's called Chutzpah.

Now that is funny!

For me it's all about responsibility. Responsibility for oneself. Take vacations. Travel but be aware that you can have problems at any time. Always try to keep time on the books. It sucks to be sick...trust me on that one...but at some point it is about responsibility.

[Ruby Vee, BSN]

Perhaps "she is always calling in" because of "legitimate health problems".

Hard to accumulate CTO, if you you need to use it right away.

It sounds like she is treading water due to her illness.. why not throw her a life jacket?

I have a coworker that uses most of her time as she accumulates it. She recently had to travel overseas for a funeral.

I did not hesitate to offer her some hours.

Nurses should take care of each other, nobody else will.

PTO is money. Why should you feel obligated to give money to a co-worker -- especially if you've had to pick up the slack and work short staffed when she's calling in sick frequently? If you WANT to give money, that's one thing. But no one should feel obligated to do so.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

When I worked in the hospital, this was only allowed if the co-worker was out on extended leave. I donated once- to a coworker whose sister was dying. I was about to max out on my PTO and the hospital was changing the policy to say that you could never have more than 1.25x your annual accrual in your bank at once (the previous cap was 1.5x) and, if you did, they would steal it back. I wasn't about to have the hospital take away my PTO so I gave it away to a co-worker who was genuinely in need. She never asked for it. She was much more senior than me so she didn't get the total sum of hours that I donated. I donated the equivalent of 48 hrs but I'd guess what she received was closer to 30-35 because her hourly rate was that much more than mine.

[sissiesmama, ASN, RN]

Dh and I have done this once - a fellow nurse we had both worked with lost her husband to liver failure and a month later was diagnosed with breast cancer. She just finished her chemo.

This nurse is one who always had time to help others and has such a sweet loving personality.

Anne, RNC

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

We have the option of donating. However, when people who take from the fund are off on exotic vacations, brag about the low cost of their subsidized housing, drive a new car, and their purse costs more than my heating bill, well, I am just about all set.

There are many of us who are "spoken to" about having to take time if we are ill, our kids are ill, or some other thing happens in life. Even though we have the PTO time. So it is quite interesting to get a "you only have 30 hours of PTO left, therefore, you need to attempt to come to work more" mentaility vs: "I gave all but 30 hours of my PTO hours to the fund".

Most facilities will let you cash out if you are going over the cap. This varies by facility, however, if I could cash out and put it in my retirement fund, all the better.

Social media is full of "funding" pages. And many get hundreds--heck-- thousands of dollars. With little justification. I guess my bottom line is those who take and take and are living a life that is far above the means of the person donating (little to no justification for the need of the funds) that is where I have an issue.

I am more than happy, however, to make a couple weeks worth of meals to freeze, give a couple hours of respite time, purchase a soft blanket, sit and read out loud, drive to appointments...whatever service I can.

[xoemmylouox, ASN, RN]

We uses to be able to donate to an individual. We had a Nurse with a critically ill family member for some time. I was more than happy to help out. Things happen that we don't plan for. It's life. No one plans on getting sick. Your PTO is to be used for vacations, fun, etc. I would give them a few hours, but that's just me.

[T-Bird78]

Our employer won't let us donate PTO at all. I wish they would. I had taken a week vacation and found out I was pregnant right before that vacation. I'd missed part of one day for a doctor's appointment, then the week for vacation, then two sick days (hyperemesis, ER visits, dehydration). I missed another 3 days when I was hospitalized for the HG and HR initiated intermittent FMLA. I was off one week (in the hospital 4 days), back at work a week, then missed two more weeks due to hospitalization and home healthcare (hard to work while lugging an IV pole around). With my hospitalizations I'd missed 3 weeks in one month, my PTO had been exhausted by that time, and I was denied my short-term disability because it requires 15 consecutive work days missed before it starts paying, and I had 15 non-consecutive days (I worked a week between hospital visits). I'd had 0 PTO, ST disability denied, 0 pay coming in, and when I returned to work (wearing my sub-cu zofran pump for a MONTH) I was given a poor review because of my "excessive absences". I was screwed all around. Plus, when I finally had my baby (after being put on bedrest at 36 weeks), I'd had 6 fewer weeks of FMLA because it had been used during my pregnancy! Fortunately I was able to stay home when I had my baby and didn't have to go back to work for over a year. That being said, if I'd been able to get PTO donated to me I'd be doing some serious begging!

[trishmsn]

I think that this scenario addresses three different issues:

-Donating PTO to another staff member in need

-using sick leave ONLY for sick leave, keeping a reserve of time and $$$

-People who expect others to "pay", in some way, for their own poor choices.

Addressing these in reverse order: I am happy to help in any way a person who has been smacked down by life and has exhausted all of their own resources, but NOT for the proverbial Grasshopper who lives for the moment. I will do what I can for someone who CANNOT help themselves (esp. children, the elderly, and the mentally ill) but I would not lift a pinky to help someone who WILL NOT help themselves. Able bodied adults are not the "village's" problem if they park their duff and whine.

We all need to plan for the future, and this means using leave time responsibly, saving at least SOME money for a rainy day, and getting the heck out of debt (Yes, another big Dave Ramsey fan, here).

Finally---let me tell you a true PTO story. I had been working about a year for a small Christian hospice when I needed an immediate TAH/BSO for a huge ovarian mass. I only had a week of leave time, and developed post op pneumonia, along with a bladder nicked during surgery that bought me a Foley for 8 weeks. I was sick and scared, with two young teens and a schoolteacher hubby who made schoolteacher wages. We were looking at blowing through our meager savings and starting to rack up credit card debt to get by those two months. Without my knowledge or input, my coworkers donated enough PTO (through HR, so it was totally anonymous) so that I did not miss a paycheck. [sidebar---we did not have STD at work, and I was too fat to get a private policy]

I could never thank them enough....and I had NO issue with being a poster child for a push to include group STD the next year. I was the first one to sign up, and so did almost everyone else, seeing how an unexpected serious illness could impact not only your physical but also your fiscal health!

[CodeteamB]

Wow, I can't really picture a scenario where we could give up our sick or vacation time to someone else, never mind someone asking for it.

We have short term disability where I work, it isn't optional, everyone pays in. Our sick time and vacation time is separate (although I have called and asked to take a vacation day when my sick bank was empty and I didn't feel well enough to work).

We are very supportive of each other and frequently have collections and fundraisers for members of our staff who are having a hard time.

I would have a real problem with someone asking me to give away mr vacation or sick hours, but again, it's not a realistic scenario with my employer.