Just when I thought our management couldn't get any more pathetic. Well, they have pushed the envelope even further.
At the begining of December the dietary manager decided (without notice) that the meal times during the day were going to change. Staff were not going to be served a full hot meal until after 12:30 pm, after the residents have all eaten their lunch. However, there are two categories of workers that usually have their lunch earlier which is 10:45 am and 11:15 am. They are the Practical Nurses and the Care Aides. For these workers they will only be entitled to have hot soup and a sandwich.
Well this didn't sit too well with these workers. So they decided on their own to change their lunch times in order for them to have the same full hot meal options that the rest of the workers were having in the building. Well the Director of Nursing got wind of this and she was not impressed. She ordered the Practical Nurses and the Care Aides to go back to their previous meal times and any change in staff meal times must go through proper channels and put to a vote with the union.
I have since filed a descrimination grievance and nothing will be looked into until after the first week of January. However, with this particular union's lousy track record of not wanting to hold the employer accountable on anything, I'm not holding my breath. So for over a month the Practical Nurses and the Care Aides will be served the equivalant of a soup kitchen at lunch time, even though their shift starts the same time as other departments (including the R.N.'s) in the building and will be treated as second class health care workers. This has created enourmous amounts of unnecesary tenstion through out the building.
Crabs in a bucket! I totally understand your point and it is unfair. In nursing, if my employer punches me and your's only slaps you, then you should shut up and be grateful.
Thank you for the feedback thus far. However, I think that there's some clarification that needs to be done.
1) Our collective aggreement states "The parties hereto agree that in every instance the employee shall pay a fair price for any meals obtained which shall in no intance be less than the actual cost of furnishing such meals, and the said cost shall be computed by the Corporation. When employees bring their own meal, they shall use the designated dining area for the consumption of same." In other words all employees are entitled to purchase a meal.
2) Up until the the first week of December, every employee in the building was entitled to purchase a full hot meal of what ever was being served to the residents that particular day. Every employee was treated equally. The only difference was that there was different meal times.
3) After the first week of December the employer singled out two categories of workers and said that they were not allowed to purchase a full hot meal like everyone else.
4) If the employer would have allowed the Practical Nurses and Care Aides to change their break times to eat their lunch after 12:30 pm like everyone else then there would be no arguement. Then everyone would once again still be treated equally and all entitled to purchase a full hot meal.
As it stands now the Practical Nurses and the Care Aides are not treated equally, thus the filing of the grievence.
I think until the union sorts it all out, I would come up with plan where lunch times can be rotated.
Some days an Rn takes early breaks and other days a cna or lpn takes early break.
I find it hard to believe that they force a particular licensed personnel to have specific break times that makes no sense to me.
Every place I have ever worked we sign up on that day for our meal breaks early in the shift. That way everyone has a fair chance at their preferred lunch times. Some days adjustments have to made as too many people all want the same time.
Some days no one goes as we are too busy. Some days if a particular person is too busy to go at their scheduled time, they trade with someone else.
Come up with a workable plan and present it to your DON. Often times just complaining is rebuffed. A reasonable plan of action is often times implemented.
Just want to mention, from the OP's original post it sounds as if the facility provides meals to the employees. The OP doesn't make it clear that these meals must be purchased. People are responding to the first post.
Often, people will respond to the first post only and if there are several pages of responses, many people don't bother to read them all before responding. That's why it's important to clarify the whole situation in the first post, or make a clarification on the first page. Maybe the OP ought to edit the first post to clarify this.
I find it profoundly disturbing that many of you think that the OP is lucky to get a lunch break. I work critical care and I can tell you that I always take a lunch break. I use the bathroom often as well. I wouldn't want a nurse that worked 12 hours straight with no food to take care of me or anyone that I cared about. The OP shouldn't consider himself/herself lucky to get a lunch break - we are entitled to lunch every day - whether you demand it or not is up to you.
I gotta tell you something Pinksugar, in most places, lunch breaks are NOT freely given. I worked 8 years in the ER, 12 hour shifts, we rarely ever got our two 15 min breaks, and as far a lunches went, if we were too busy, which was 90% of the time, no one went to lunch. I routinely worked 12 hours without a break. I would bring my food to the nurses station and take a bite here and there. Yes, a JAHCO no, no - but even our boss turned a blind eye, lest he had to don scrubbs and give us meal breaks.
Now I work in PACU, when I am on call, I often don't get breaks. My record is 24 hours straight work without breaks, meals. My boss doesn't care, "comes with doing call". The nursing supervisors doesn't care, "there is no one who can relieve you" - so there are many places where this is common place.
Compalining does no good, without a union, if you rock the boat, you're likely the one to fall overboard and drown.
So, there are those of us who routinely work - pretty much non-stop, without proper breaks.
I've never worked anywhere that doesn't somehow provide lunchbreaks. I have seen nurses who feel like they can't take them because they are so behind. I personally think that skipping a lunchbreak does not help you catch up but causes you to spin your wheels more. I find that taking breaks helps me to recoup and work better.
I used to work at a hospital that had one of the busiest ER's in our entire state and all of those ER nurses not only took a 30 minute lunch break, but they also took a 30 minute dinner break. I am not lying, and let me tell you that this ER was busy/packed 24-7 - pts everywhere in the hallways, pts in the ER for over 24 hrs without getting a bed, etc. We also do call where I work and we make sure to take our breaks. We actually get in trouble if we don't take our lunch breaks.
Point blank, I can't take care of a pt if I haven't taken care of myself. When I was in school and on orientation my instructors and preceptors always stressed the importance of taking breaks, especially for meals. Now there have been a few times when I haven't felt it was a good idea to take my full 30 minutes or stray far from the floor, but I always have at least a few minutes to myself to have something to eat. If I pass out (which I will if forced to go without food for an entire shift) I won't be of any use to my pts or coworkers. JMO.
I find it profoundly disturbing that many of you think that the OP is lucky to get a lunch break. I work critical care and I can tell you that I always take a lunch break. I use the bathroom often as well. I wouldn't want a nurse that worked 12 hours straight with no food to take care of me or anyone that I cared about. The OP shouldn't consider himself/herself lucky to get a lunch break - we are entitled to lunch every day - whether you demand it or not is up to you.
I find it profoundly disturbing that many of you think that the OP is lucky to get a lunch break. I work critical care and I can tell you that I always take a lunch break. I use the bathroom often as well. I wouldn't want a nurse that worked 12 hours straight with no food to take care of me or anyone that I cared about. The OP shouldn't consider himself/herself lucky to get a lunch break - we are entitled to lunch every day - whether you demand it or not is up to you.
I 100% agree. To say "be greatful you even get a lunch break" is disturbing. I prioritize my lunch break the same as I do my other tasks. It's rarely at the same time but I eat 99.9999999% of the time I'm work.
To the original topic: to provide a hot meal for some of the staff and not all may not be discrimination but it is a poor management practice. Look at the morale cost.
ANnot4me
442 Posts
Hey Truth66--
Crabs in a bucket! I totally understand your point and it is unfair. In nursing, if my employer punches me and your's only slaps you, then you should shut up and be grateful.