Fired

[Lilynelo]

I’m new on this page. I started a new job Feb 17 2020. Had 1 week orientation off the floor. Came to the floor the following week and started my orientation which was meant to last for 6 days, been that I am experienced. 4 days into my orientation, the manger called and handed me a paper of some areas I wasn’t meeting their expectations which my preceptor told him. I told him I would work on it.

2 days later after I have completed my orientation, I came in having in mind that I will work on my own, only for the manager to call me to his office and said I was fired. That I wasn’t meeting up to the criteria.

All along, my preceptor never told me of my mistake. I have 8 years of experience and this is not my first hospital job. I feel I was discriminated. Also, could it be because I’m pregnant and will be due in 4 months?

[Emergent, RN]

That sucks.

[HandsOffMySteth]

It was probably a place you would not want to work anyway. Hopefully you have enough work hours you can draw unemployment while you look for a better job. Good luck.

[Nunya, BSN]

I've never heard of a 6 day orientation in a hospital, even with experience. Going by that premise I should only have 3 days my next NICU job. It's pretty hard to be told after 4 days what's wrong and then have to improve it in the next two days. I'm wondering did they have legitimate complaints? Also did anyone ever say anything that made you feel discriminated against? I definitely think a meeting with HR is in order.

[caliotter3]

If the real reason was because you are pregnant, don't expect anyone to admit to that.

[Sour Lemon]

On 3/14/2020 at 9:41 PM, Lilynelo said:

4 days into my orientation, the manger called and handed me a paper of some areas I wasn’t meeting their expectations which my preceptor told him. I told him I would work on it.

What were the expectations they claimed you weren't meeting?

Did they know you were pregnant when they hired you?

I agree that they're not going to admit it if that is their reason. Your circumstances suck, but I'm not sure there's a remedy.

[Lilynelo]

They didn’t know I was pregnant when they hired me. On my 2nd day, my preceptor gave me all her 6 patients, I told her it might slow us down since I’m not yet used to the computer system. I started with 3 and later took all d 6. That was his complaint, that I was supposed to have all the 6 on my 2nd day. I was always on time to work and finished on time so I’m still speechless as to why I will be laid off just like that.

[rockchickrn, ADN]

That hospital sounds like a hellhole. Yep whole pt. load on day 2 of orientation? That's not right.

[DTWriter]

Call it divine intervention. They are suffering now.

[Jolie, BSN]

I'm sorry for your circumstances.

I seriously doubt you were dismissed for a performance problem. Even in right to work states, employees have some protections against malicious firing. Employers typically have Human Resources policies and procedures regarding hiring and firing employees, and if they fire someone in a manner contrary to their own written policy, they can be held accountable by the legal system.

It is true that during your probationary period, an employer may be able to dismiss you for any- or no reason at all. But if they give a reason for the dismissal, it must be handled in keeping with their written policy. You state you were dismissed for performance issues. I would suggest you contact Human Resources and ask for a copy of their written policy regarding dismissing an employee for performance problems. If that policy outlines corrective actions to be taken by the preceptor, unit manager or Human Resources prior to firing, and those steps weren't applied to you, you might have a case for wrongful termination. You might also quietly ask around about other pregnant employees terminated for questionable reasons. If you can establish a pattern, it may support your argument of wrongful termination.

That said, this does sound like a potentially bad place to work. Please weigh your options and consider seeking employment at another reputable healthcare facility where you will be valued and treated professionally. My very best to you.

[Tenacious Me]

Sorry this happened to you, but it sounds like you dodged a huge bullet! You now have the freedom to find a better and less stressful opportunity elsewhere. It’s been my experience that when jobs start out like this, the worst is yet to come and it’s definitely not worth the stress, aggravation or time!

I’ve tried hoping for the better, being overly flexible, etc and all the other things we do to make a square fit into a round hole. We ignore all the red flags! I’m much more comfortable asking about the company culture, training and on boarding/retention policies prior to accepting new positions. Maybe I’m just an old nurse, but life is too short to work in toxic environments with cutthroat coworkers. Being a nurse is hard enough!

[Katie82, RN]

I really hate to mention this because I have no idea if this pertains to your case. Rather than going the BSN/MSN route, I have a BBA/MBA in Health Care Management. Most of my classmates were already employed in health care. In one of my HR classes, we discussed that some hospitals were trending toward over-hiring new grads, with the thought that they would just fire those whose performance was on the lower half of the spectrum. I really found this difficult to believe, but several classmates shared that they thought their hospitals were doing just that. Hiring 20 nurses to fill 10 slots then keeping the ten they liked best. I only mention this because I have seen a lot of posts lately that were made by nurses who think they were fired during orientation for no cause. I hate to think this happens, but who knows. I just hate to see all these new nurses being fired because they thought they did something wrong.