forced to come in on days off?

[nursebag]

I have seen several threads about this, but my situation seems to be a little different. I am a unit manager in a nursing facility, and I work Monday through Friday.

In the past several months, the med nurses/ floor nurses have begun to call out more and more due to the fact that they know their shift will be covered by myself or another reliable nurse that is a unit manager. It has come down to where the nurses that are on call are refusing to come in, so they never have to fulfill their on-call duties.

I don't mind covering every now and then except for the fact that I have been called in so much lately that I am falling behind in my actual job duties. And I am not doing it for the money because for every shift that I work, I have to take that much time off later in the week to avoid making overtime.

If I was being called and ASKED if I could come in, I would not be so concerned. But I recieve calls/messages that say, "We need a shift covered. Everyone I have called has said no, so you have to cover it."

Really? I HAVE to? Why did everyone else that was contacted not HAVE to cover the shift?

I'm basically not being given a choice of whether or not I cover these shifts. And when I have had a legitimate reason for not being able to work, I've been put on a guilt trip by my supervisors. I need time off and a personal life, but that excuse is not going to be accepted.

I'm feeling taken advantage of, and I guess my question is...if you were in my place, what would you say next time you got a call such as this? I'm just tired of being the only person being told that they HAVE to come in, yet none of the other nurses who are contacted are being held accountable.

[Mathilda_79]

Tell them you've had a couple of glasses of wine on your day off and couldn't possibly provide safe patient care.

[himilayaneyes]

I'm not sure what your call policy is but the nurses should have call pay for having to be on call. If they refuse to cover the shift, then the call pay should be cancelled and disciplinary action taken.

[canigraduate]

I have seen several threads about this, but my situation seems to be a little different. I am a unit manager in a nursing facility, and I work Monday through Friday.

In the past several months, the med nurses/ floor nurses have begun to call out more and more due to the fact that they know their shift will be covered by myself or another reliable nurse that is a unit manager. It has come down to where the nurses that are on call are refusing to come in, so they never have to fulfill their on-call duties.

I don't mind covering every now and then except for the fact that I have been called in so much lately that I am falling behind in my actual job duties. And I am not doing it for the money because for every shift that I work, I have to take that much time off later in the week to avoid making overtime.

If I was being called and ASKED if I could come in, I would not be so concerned. But I recieve calls/messages that say, "We need a shift covered. Everyone I have called has said no, so you have to cover it."

Really? I HAVE to? Why did everyone else that was contacted not HAVE to cover the shift?

I'm basically not being given a choice of whether or not I cover these shifts. And when I have had a legitimate reason for not being able to work, I've been put on a guilt trip by my supervisors. I need time off and a personal life, but that excuse is not going to be accepted.

I'm feeling taken advantage of, and I guess my question is...if you were in my place, what would you say next time you got a call such as this? I'm just tired of being the only person being told that they HAVE to come in, yet none of the other nurses who are contacted are being held accountable.

The only thing I can think of is that you have a bad case of doormatitis. I think it is time to inject some discipline into this situation. The people who are refusing to come in should be written up and the chain followed up to termination. And you need to quit laying down and taking it.

I know that sounds harsh, but you are worth more than that and need to realize that you are enabling what is happening to you. Be fair with coworkers and supervisors, but be fair to yourself FIRST. Don't forget to to be firm. You need to set boundaries with your coworkers and supervisors just like you would set boundaries with your patients.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

When I first started where I am attendance hadn't been addressed. When I met with my employees for their annual reviews, each one was told what the policy was and how many times they'd called in in the past year. One was shocked to find that an absence was an absence even if they had a note from the doctor. I also advice them to file FML if they are calling in for the same chronic issue. If they are covered by FMLA, fine. But if not, they will be written up. If they are too lazy to do the paperwork, they will be written up if absent.

A copy of our time and attendance policy is in the time off request book, so no one can claim they didn't know what call offs lead to write ups.

Its really a pain to have to do the counseling and paperwork, but it needs to be done or nothing changes.

[nursebag]

These are all such great & helpful responses. I should have joined AN a long time ago for advice. I will try to cover everything that was asked in the replies.

1. Going out of town - it has come down to this. When I can tell that I am about to be called in to work, I will tell my s/o "get in the car, we're about to go out of town for the weekend." I just feel terrible lying. But it is sad, even from my own perspective, that I have to actually consider picking up and going out of town to actually have a break.

2. Drinking - without saying too much, my coworkers know that I am not drinking at this time in my life :-) In a few months, I will use this excuse tirelessly!

3. I am a manager, but I am not in management above the nurses that are calling out, otherwise they would have been disciplined at this point. From what I can tell, they are not being disciplined because upper management knows they would just quit and find another job.

4. There is an on-call rotation. The nurses on the rotation are on-call every 6-8 weeks, which I find to be pretty lenient. There is no on-call pay. Management will not even consider it.

5. I am NOT on the on-call rotation. I've been told by management that I am on call 24/7 due to my position. They do not provide any sort of on-call compensation or pay my phone bill. In my experience, if an employee is expected to be on call 24/7, their employer pays their phone bill or purchases a separate phone for work purposes, but not where I work.

6. I have been a door mat. I just don't want to lose my job. I want to be there for the company and the people I care for. I just want to feel like I have a personal life and rights. Sometimes I feel like a slave to my job. Definitely tired of feeling this way. I hope to express some of these feelings to management this week to get some relief.

I swear I'm not trying to be a "princess" that was discussed in another thread. I have worked day shifts, night shift, weekend shifts...all in addition to my management position. I have worked all day and left at 5pm, only to be told to come back to work and work 7p-7a, in my "condition" and with strep throat with a note from my doctor saying not to work for 3 days. So I swear I don't think I'm too good to work. I've busted my butt and I still plan to keep working hard. I just want to feel like I have a life again.

[MrChicagoRN, RN]

Hi nurse bag,

put points 3 & 6 together. They're worried about the nurses quitting, but not of you quitting?

if they get get written up, they won't all quit. Once they start getting written up, most will straighten up and fly right. Some will take it to the brink and always be one call in from being fired, but most will straighten up.

If they quit, do they think they'll find employment that tolerates frequent call offs?

[DoeRN]

To be honest it sounds like you need to find another job. You want to be loyal to the company but they are treating you like crap.

Sent from my iPhone using allnurses.com

[applesxoranges, BSN, RN]

We are counted as a call off if we do not come in when on call. However, we do get a few dollars each hour for being on call and we get double time for the first two hours and normal pay after that each time we are called in.

[RNKPCE]

"On call" is a paid position where I work. You get 1/2 pay to be on call for the entire shift plus full pay if you go in, so 1.5 times pay with minimum 4 hours if you go in. I certainly wouldn't be "on call" for free.

It's amazing how different work practices are in different places.

Where I work managers have 24/7 responsibility to their unit. They have both responsibility and authority to discipline staff who break the absentee policy. They rarely have to work the floor. My facility is willing to pay overtime pay for staff willing to cover short shifts.

I just read allnurses for a little while and realize how lucky I am to work where I work.

[DJSexton, RN]

Hello and I feel for you feeling you have to cover your unit as you do. From a purely business perspective, the manager is accountable for the operation. Do not forget you also maintain the leadership role to vision your unit to efficiency. If you are staffed appropriately for headcount, and more than 30% call out (while still attaining their on call pay) regularly, then you need to work the problem to solution. Adhere to attendance policy and write staff up. There is not enough time in the day to keep staff that don't pull their weight. Oddly enough, a tough manager earns greater respect from staff when the manager holds them accountable. You either spend your time managing or working. You're either a manager or not. If you feel you don't have control, it's because you probably don't. Good luck and start cracking the whip.

[LPN Guy]

We always let our answering machine with caller ID take all of our calls. If I don't get back to them immediately who's to say I wasn't out somewhere and unavailable? Unless someone is doing surveillance on my house they have no way of knowing that. Don't let people take advantage of you or "play" you.

[Here.I.Stand, BSN, RN]

2. Drinking - without saying too much, my coworkers know that I am not drinking at this time in my life :-) In a few months, I will use this excuse tirelessly!

Yes, time to start laying down the law. 'Cause daycare sure ain't going to be on call 24/7.