Disgruntled is putting it mildly... need input !

Nurses General Nursing

Published

OK for those of you who may have answers...

As most of you know already, I LOVE where I work.. love my patients, love what I do, and dearly love my DON and coworkers.

But the HUGE, national COMPANY we work for is the pits ! Always trying to screw us any way they can... make their big bucks by taking out of our hides and the patients' quality of care.

Here's their latest:

Had to go to a mandatory all day inservice last week.. in W. Va. (about a two hour drive one way). They used to send the inservice trainer to each one of the units, but changed that.. guess it was cheaper to have all the staff go to one place than send the trainer out toall the different units... even if it meant that just a few of us (who were not working that day) could go, and schedule several days out of the month so that eventually all the staff will have attended.

BEFORE.. anytime we had to drive somewhere, we had been paid for mileage (plus the hours at the meeting/inservice, whichever..)

So I drove last week with another staffmember. Mind you, we only get paid for the hours at the meeting, not the total 4 hours of travel to and fro, which already sux ! NOW.. today, I go to work and there is an email from the big suits waaaaaaay up there in the COMPANY which has been sent to all units. They inform us that we no longer are getting paid mileage... rather they will pay $10.00 up to sevebtyfive miles, and increase as the miles increase. Well, it was 74 miles one way from my house.

The last group that went received $50.00 in mileage (and they live closer than I do)... I get a measly $20.00. It cost me nearly that in gas. What about wear and tear on the vehicle, tires, etc?

Not to mention the 4 hours of traveltime they don't pay us for.

What IS this??? Can they DO this? What are my reciourses? Do I even have any? (besides whining about it)... I don't think this is right !

Any input? :confused:

Specializes in cardiac, diabetes, OB/GYN.

You did know that if it is mandatory the company involved is supposed to accomodate you and not the other way around, even if it means travel expenses, expenses period. And one does not need a union for that. Most people are unaware of that point....Sounds like a bum deal for you guys, for sure....

.

Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.

Thanx, you all... your responses have been great, and I sure do appreciate them ! :)

After I left work yesterday, our DON got with our regional mgr. and asked to clarify this "new" policy. According to the reg. mgr., it was not the company's policy per say, but one which was just initiated by the company's East Business Unit. (something they devised to spare the inservice trainer from having to travel to all the units... just have a "centralized unit" for the meeting and all staff from all the clinics with in so many miles are to attend at said centralized unit)... AND, I was WRONG ! It's even WORSE than what I said ! :eek: Our total reimbursement.. get this(!)...is:

(talking gas/mileage now)

15 miles.. no reimbursement

15-30 miles.. $2.50 a day

30-50 miles..$5.00 a day

50-75 miles..$7.50 a day

greater than 75 miles $10.00 a day.

Can you believe that? So if I were to have to drive a hundred miles or more, I'd get a whole ten bucks for my gas, wear and tear on the vehicle, and still no traveltime..???? HAR !!! That's just about FUNNY ! ( I'm liking my avatar more and more as each day passes... :( )

Here's exactly how the email/letter was worded:

"All clinic staffs are required to attend Mandatory Inservices annually which are provided in the centralized classrooms adn is a condition of their employment. (not when I started there 6 years ago!)

In order to (get this.. what a JOKE) 'assist' (huh???) the employee in compliance with their training, alternate payment for travel assistance have been developed which supercedes the company mileage reimbursement policy.

Exsisting emplyees attending mandatory inservices in the centralized classroom will be reimbursed according to the zone assigned to their clinic. The distance between each clinic and their classroom has been measured using MapQuest and the facilities' addresses."

Is that a rip, or what?

Sooooooo... got on the horn with our DON today on her day off and she said that yes, even our regional mgr. agreed this was BS, and that each staff should voice their disagreement with this policy in EACH unit (and there are MANY).. and that the DON of each unit should then forward them to the BIG "area" mgr. and press them to change this piece of garbage they just put out.

In the meantime, no more traveling anywhere unless I get the proper mileage AND the time spent on the road ! Ain't doin' it.. just ain't gonna happen. Nope. They can all just BITE ME !!!

:p

the mileage is tax deduction probably, but that is very small compensation to actually laying out cash for gas and not being paid for time you traveled. What would happen if you DID NOT go to a mandatory meeting??? Sorta like the old saying: what if they had a war and nobody came?

Were you told that you would not receive pay for the hours that you were travelling in the car?

I would try to be sneaky and put it on my time card anyway and see if they would pay it.

Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.
Originally posted by colleen10

Were you told that you would not receive pay for the hours that you were travelling in the car?

I would try to be sneaky and put it on my time card anyway and see if they would pay it.

Yep.. we were told they won't give us anything for the traveltime.

Don't want to do anything sneaky.. just want them to know how we FEEL about this, and that we won't tolerate it. Tell them up front that next time, not to expect us to show if we're not being compensated, that's all. I'd rather be up front and straightforward. Then when it happens again, I can tell them that I made my point clear and had told them what to expect.

But, we WIL be sending a letter.. all the various units... and hopefully this will be reconsidered.

I do appreciate everyone's input... y'all are good buds ! :)

Specializes in Gerontological, cardiac, med-surg, peds.

I just wouldn't go, Jnette. Be a NO SHOW. What's the worst thing they can do?--Fire you? There are nursing jobs everywhere now, so you don't need these losers.

Specializes in ORTHOPAEDICS-CERTIFIED SINCE 89.

Suggest this. Have the "trainer" videotape the lecture/class whatever and mail copies to each facility. You could then watch them as a group or check them out overnight and watch at home. Sheesh it sounds as if the inmates are running the institution.

The videotape idea is a great one...hope you can talk them into it.That long drive is too inconvenient and they have gaul to expect this, IMHO.

I've noticed my coworkers tend to get passive aggressive about this kind of required inservicing, etc. Maybe it's a goodthing...LOL. While I'm the kind that shows up, (feeling inconvenienced), just trying to get it over with and out of the way, many of my coworkers just don't bother.

Then 3 months later one of the educators notices that 90% of the staff hasn't attended her 'mandatory' inservice, so she scrambles to find out why, and ends up being a tad more accommodating. ;)

charge it to them!

or find a new place that doesnt do these things.

Our inservices are held at our hospital, which is a mile from my home so I'm pretty lucky. However, our ACLS and PALS classes will no longer be held at our hospital, since the hospital that did the outreach classes is no longer able to (Tenet hospital). So, we drive 75 miles one way (Jnette - I can make it in an hour and 15 minutes!!:D . . . . . . . . but we do get reimbursed mileage and get paid for the day. I just took a neonatal resucitation class at Mercy in Redding. Got reimbursed for the class and could have gotten mileage but I didn't ask for it. We are having financial difficulties here . .small rural hospital with medicare reimbursement problems. :-)

I think I'd refuse to go Jnette . . ..and complain loudly.

steph

Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.

See above re the video taping.. we already WATCHED all the videos at home (four hours worth).. the meeting was a RECAP of everything we watched.. totally unneccessary in my view. 8 hours of discussing and rehashing what we watched at home already.. and quizzes on them.

They have a nurses' technical trainng session coming up in a few weeks.. at the same place. My coworkers were already asking who was going to drive... iI looked at them in disbelief! :eek: I said "don't you GET it"? If we keep going, they'll keep expecting us to !" They hate it and gripe about it as much as I, but none are willing to be bold enough to refuse to go... :( I know if all 6 of us just didn't show, including our DON, they'd surely notice.. and no way would they fire the entire clinic staff ! But ppl here are so afraid of losing their jobs.. a mentality they were raised with here. Very, very sad. So we'll see. I'm not going. Not this kid. I don't steal the company's time, I don't expect the company to steal mine.

It's not the drive.. it's a BEAUTIFUL drive all through the mts. of West Va. ... really pretty. And I love to drive ! It's the PRINCIPAL.. I should be getting paid for my time to get there.. plus appropriate mileage. That's my story and I'm stickin' to it.

Anyway.. we are all turning in a letter to our DON per her request and she will be fwd.ing them along with hers to our Area Mgr. to voice our discontent with this policy. ( and in the meantinme, the others will continue to go.. like lambs to the slaughter...) aaaaaaaaargh !!!

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