Don't Know If I Was Terminated

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Dear Nurse Beth,

I do need your advice at this point. I have a PRN job that I may have been terminated. I figured I might been terminated because the hospital IT staff confirmed my account was deactivated with no beginning/termination date. Starting this May, I was not able to sign up/work for enough hours to fulfill the PRN requirement due to pregnancy.

COVID brought patient volume down thus many full-time employees were working reduced hours. I do not know what should I do at this point. Should I call manager or HR to figure out the exact termination date and the termination reason they put? I live in a state that requires termination letter but I have not received anything in the mail. Will getting terminated hurt my chance of getting another job? What should I say in my next job application when I am ready to find another job?

Thanks. Very desperate. 

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3 Answers

Specializes in Tele, ICU, Staff Development.

Dear Desperate,

Call the employer and ask if you've been terminated. Maybe you haven't been. Sometimes accounts are inactivated after a defined period of non-use.

Being terminated from a PRN job during COVID should not hurt your chances of getting hired. You can say that patient volume was down, which is a completely acceptable reason right now.

Best wishes,

Nurse Beth

I was in a similar situation. While I was pregnant, I was working two per diems. Once I got into my 8th/9th month, both jobs told me they would not be calling me anymore until after I gave birth. Some months later, I found out that I was removed from their per diem lists as was no longer on their rosters. I am not sure if they called it removed or terminated, but I was out. 

But, a year or so later, I sought out a full time position at per diem job "A" and I got the job. Then sometime after that  I was looking for another fulltime job at a clinic that was a sister to perdiem job "B", and I got that job also. Both places told me they hired me because of my record with them as a per diem. 

I do not think this is a bad mark on your record or a termination in a negative sense. I think as long as you were in good standing during your time at the job, you have a chance of rehire should you choose to pursue a position. 

Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

Prior health system had an official policy that if you hadn't worked in 3 month, IT would terminate your computer/email access, Manager had to send new request to reinstate or even rehire employee. Best to call prior manager to discuss issue.   ALL positions had DOH =  date of hire and DOT = date of termination (with reason for leaving, would you rehire) in HR computer system. 

Best wishes moving forward.

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