Call Offs

Nurses General Nursing

Published

Our new DON at a LTC facility I work at just announced to the staff a couple of days ago about a new policy she has in place. She states that if you call off sick for any reason whatsoever, even if you have a doctor's excuse, that you have to call another employee to get coverage for the shift you are suppose to work and if no one covers your shift or you don't come in to work then you get wrote up, 3 write ups and your gone. A lot of people are furious where I work about this, including me. In the employee handbook, it states that you need to call in 2 hours or more before you are scheduled to work, and after 2 absences a doctor's note is needed. What is the policy where you work?

Also, how do you prioritize family and work. She states that this facility and the patients should come first? Do you put your patients 1st, then your family 2nd?

I ditto everybody else. Get the dickens out of there!

To go up the chain of command may well get the policy changed but it will also come back to bite you in your rear.

They hired her, let them deal with her at the same time they are trying to restaff the place!

If you really love your job, you will really love another too and as sad ia it may be, don't worry about the residents, you come first.

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No way. I don't think I would be able to deal with that. If I was really ill, I would be afraid to call in therefore going into work where I might pass illness on to my patients. Plus who in the heck when they are sick want to search for someone to work for them. I have had times where I needed a mental health day so I called in. It is important to protect yourself so that you can continue to care for your patients. I dont' think this is a good policy at all. I would try finding a new position. Every think about homecare. It is wonderful.

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Our new DON at a LTC facility I work at just announced to the staff a couple of days ago about a new policy she has in place. She states that if you call off sick for any reason whatsoever, even if you have a doctor's excuse, that you have to call another employee to get coverage for the shift you are suppose to work and if no one covers your shift or you don't come in to work then you get wrote up, 3 write ups and your gone. A lot of people are furious where I work about this, including me. In the employee handbook, it states that you need to call in 2 hours or more before you are scheduled to work, and after 2 absences a doctor's note is needed. What is the policy where you work?

Also, how do you prioritize family and work. She states that this facility and the patients should come first? Do you put your patients 1st, then your family 2nd?

That's the most ridiculous policy I've ever heard of.

That DON woulnd't ever have to go to the trouble of having to write me up the third time, cause I'd be looking for another job. {You were looking for one when you found that one weren't you?} Someone who is very ill is not able to find a replacement. She's just trying to pass that buck onto the staff.

She better roll up HER sleeves, cause it sounds like she's gonna have more work to do than she bargained for.

And the employee handbook is just as ridiculous.

If I read your post right, your handbook is saying that EVERY time after the 3rd call in, you have to have a dr's excuse?

Something about that just doesn't sound right. You can be sick and not actually have to go to the doctor. Just a really bad cold can put you to bed for a week. FAMILIES GET SICK. We all have kids, parents, grandparents.

Heck I've even taken a day off for my DOG once, but I couldn't actually use a SICK day, it was a vacation day, but when you've been up with a sick dog all night, that eventually had to be humanely put to sleep because of old age/illness, a person is not FIT for work the next day.

Sheeeesh, what is wrong with employers today????

Each call in should be treated individually.

My job gives you 5 sick days before you need a Dr's excuse, and as long as you don't show a PATTERN of sick leave abuse, they can't do anything to you. Example of sick leave abuse would be like calling in every week just before or after your off days, or maybe every weekend.

It's a fair policy and it works. Just don't abuse it, or call in sick and then get caught out shopping.

Use common sense.

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Specializes in Community Health Nurse.
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also, how do you prioritize family and work. she states that this facility and the patients should come first? do you put your patients 1st, then your family 2nd?

you're kidding right? :confused: that's the same as saying "do you value your job more than your family" which is absolutely a big fat "no!!!"

no job comes before my family, so there is nothing that an employer could say to me that would make me put working for them above my family. heck, i remember the labor pains with each one of my children, and no way can any job make up for that! :nono:

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Specializes in Med/Surg.

I used to work for a manager like that, and thank god I don't anymore. I would get the heck out of there as fast as you can. You'll be happier for it in the long run, trust me.

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Like everyone else, I believe that's the most outrageous absence policy I've ever heard of. :madface: However, I'm shouldn't be really surprised. I had a friend lose her job for missing one day of work, even though she had a doctor's note, and always showed up to work before her illness. Don't employers realize that everybody gets sick, or they may have to leave work early, or not come into work, in case of a family emergency? They must think that all employees should be illness-free, with no outside work obligations, such as our families. I would not want to work for that place, and I think that I'll try to find out about the absence/sick policy of the place that I'm going to work for in the future before I start work there.

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Like everyone else, I believe that's the most outrageous absence policy I've ever heard of. :madface: However, I'm shouldn't be really surprised. I had a friend lose her job for missing one day of work, even though she had a doctor's note, and always showed up to work before her illness. Don't employers realize that everybody gets sick, or they may have to leave work early, or not come into work, in case of a family emergency? They must think that all employees should be illness-free, with no outside work obligations, such as our families. I would not want to work for that place, and I think that I'll try to find out about the absence/sick policy of the place that I'm going to work for in the future before I start work there.

Unfortunately there are those, and they are usually the ones driven to be in management, who do not miss work. Of course they are also the ones who have a major MI at 40 something, or are bitter and just down right unhappy. You can't reason with those kinds of people. The only thing to do is take the time spent on the job as a short term learning experience and move on. Or, you can always wait until the kids get chicken pox, caycare refuses to take them and your sister really doesn't want her kids exposed and you have to take a few days off and loose that job. Personally, I would rather look for a new job because I want to find one, not because I was fired!

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Something I learned years ago about human nature, in general. People that put a policy like this in place - know that people abuse priveleges, and the reason they know is because THEY did it. Moving on may not be an option. If I had to call in sick, I would follow the handbook rules, and to CYA I'd call the DON directly and let the DON know you're not able to seek coverage. Then it's in her lap - where it belongs.

Our new DON at a LTC facility I work at just announced to the staff a couple of days ago about a new policy she has in place. She states that if you call off sick for any reason whatsoever, even if you have a doctor's excuse, that you have to call another employee to get coverage for the shift you are suppose to work and if no one covers your shift or you don't come in to work then you get wrote up, 3 write ups and your gone. A lot of people are furious where I work about this, including me. In the employee handbook, it states that you need to call in 2 hours or more before you are scheduled to work, and after 2 absences a doctor's note is needed. What is the policy where you work?

Also, how do you prioritize family and work. She states that this facility and the patients should come first? Do you put your patients 1st, then your family 2nd?

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I called out sick last week with a doctors excuse. I was unable to find coverage, so the LPN social worker worked the shift that i was suppose to work.

When I went back to work she looked so disgusted. Guess she doesn't think anyone ever gets sick?? Also, she has given out all the employee's home and cell phone numbers to other employee's for us to call to get coverage if we are out sick, is this legal??

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Our new DON at a LTC facility I work at just announced to the staff a couple of days ago about a new policy she has in place. She states that if you call off sick for any reason whatsoever, even if you have a doctor's excuse, that you have to call another employee to get coverage for the shift you are suppose to work and if no one covers your shift or you don't come in to work then you get wrote up, 3 write ups and your gone. A lot of people are furious where I work about this, including me. In the employee handbook, it states that you need to call in 2 hours or more before you are scheduled to work, and after 2 absences a doctor's note is needed. What is the policy where you work?

Also, how do you prioritize family and work. She states that this facility and the patients should come first? Do you put your patients 1st, then your family 2nd?

And they wonder why they can't get good people to work at these places and a nursing shortage.

Why work in a profession where so many treat you like a child from the get go.

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Without getting into my facility's call in policy, let me say this: It is not YOUR responsibility to staff the unit, it is MANAGEMENTS responsibility. Get another job, if you can. If you need to take an extensive medical leave, god forbid, should you be expected to pay for and place an ad in the paper to find a replacement??????:angryfire

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Our new DON at a LTC facility I work at just announced to the staff a couple of days ago about a new policy she has in place. She states that if you call off sick for any reason whatsoever, even if you have a doctor's excuse, that you have to call another employee to get coverage for the shift you are suppose to work and if no one covers your shift or you don't come in to work then you get wrote up, 3 write ups and your gone. A lot of people are furious where I work about this, including me. In the employee handbook, it states that you need to call in 2 hours or more before you are scheduled to work, and after 2 absences a doctor's note is needed. What is the policy where you work?

Also, how do you prioritize family and work. She states that this facility and the patients should come first? Do you put your patients 1st, then your family 2nd?

Work is A temporary thing, family is forever!

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