Forced out to pasture

CrunchRN, ADN, RN · Nov 13, 2017

I am really sorry to hear this. Hope you find something decent relatively quickly. It is not easy being nurses in our 50's and above.

crystal0203 · Nov 13, 2017

I am 61 years old and have had problems with age discrimination by employers. Nurses need to band together to prevent unscrupulous employers from humiliating age discrimination. Are they also trying to deny you retirement? I personally know 3 nurses that worked 20+ years for retirement to have the hospital try to shaft them out of it. They obtained lawyers and won their cases. Age discrimination is illegal period. Contact EEOC. Workplace harassment is also illegal and unfair assignments are considered to be a red flag to these lawyers. It is worth a visit to EEOC .gov website to educate yourself on laws that apply to all workers, including professions. What do you have to lose except income you need to live on and the embarrassment that ensues from illegal firing. And they wonder why we have a nursing shortage!

Extra Pickles · Nov 13, 2017

-- And they wonder why we have a nursing shortage!

Except we don't have a nursing shortage anymore, which is why they can get away with this so easily. There are plenty of new, younger nurses, new grads waiting to snap up jobs at half the cost of the old bats that get pushed out the door :-(

RobbiRN, RN · Nov 15, 2017

Your story is sad and deeply troubling. I wish you courage and peace in what appears to be a horrible situation. Hopefully, something good will come of it.

The failure of our business/profit centered model is appalling, and I predict the trends in cost cutting, micro-management, and failure to value experience will get worse. Eventually, the crises itself will dictate a complete overhaul that removes profit as the primary control of healthcare delivery in our country, and we will be forced to adopt a model more like those of the many countries who spend far less and live longer than we do. In the meantime, cheaper labor will be increasingly attractive.

One tiny hint of poetic justice: Even those who profit handsomely for the current system will have their lives in the hands of the new nurse they hire to replace you.

saskrn · Nov 15, 2017

Except we don't have a nursing shortage anymore, which is why they can get away with this so easily. There are plenty of new, younger nurses, new grads waiting to snap up jobs at half the cost of the old bats that get pushed out the door :-(

There's a current shortage in my state, and a much larger projected shortage. The schools can't prepare enough nurses.

Farawyn · Nov 15, 2017

This is awful, BDTD. I'm only a nurse 24 years and I still need COBs like you.

Farawyn · Nov 15, 2017

What make's you think I was kidding? My tassles will just be a lot lower.

And...this. :inlove:

RNperdiem, RN · Nov 15, 2017

Whenever I hear the term "forced out to pasture", I think of what my Dad told me about growing up on a dairy farm.

There was no pasture for old cows; they were sold to the butcher.

Been there,done that, ASN, RN · Nov 16, 2017

I'm sorry this happened to you and I hope you will be able to find another job soon.
Still I don't think it's fair to blame Obamacare, before insurance companies cherry picked only the young and healthy and simply refused to insure anyone with any health problems. Even worse they had a nasty habit of refusing to pay claims when someone became sick with an expensive, serious illness like cancer and bonuses were even given out to whoever found some obscure reason to retroactively uninsure the now desperately sick patient who was forced to rely on the kindness of strangers or the govt to bail them out!
Obamacare isn't perfect, but at least millions more people finally have health insurance, sometimes for the first time in their lives! The Republicans have made it their mission to destroy Obamacare rather than work across the aisle to fix things.
It probably isn't any consolation but you are not alone. The same corporate downsizing is happening across the country from nurses in hospitals, home care, clinics, etc. I've worked with a couple travelers who after being laid off found the only way to get steady work was to work as a traveler. It's not just us, even engineers and IT pro's are being laid off, many IT workers forced to train their Indian or Filipino replacements if they wanted to get a severance package! Disney was the latest in the news for this disgusting tactic.
In the end it is our government's refusal to protect us both from age discrimination and allowing companies to bring in foreign workers on HB1 visas to work for less! A recent Supreme Court ruling made age discrimination almost impossible to prove unless you had the smoking gun! One computer pro won his claim for age discrimination because the supervisor had publicly bragged about replacing him with a high school student for next to nothing!
I don't understand how we can be one of the richest countries in the world but not even have national health care for its people. It is just shameful! National healthcare doesn't have to be the end of insurance companies we could follow the German model and I believe other countries in Europe people pay for private supplemental insurance most closely resembling our medicare system.

Far from blaming Obama care, I stated it is the current administration's decision to stop funding Obama care that is the problem.

cleback · Nov 16, 2017

Yikes... sorry BTDT. That sucks. Their (big) mistake.

Extra Pickles · Nov 16, 2017

There's a current shortage in my state, and a much larger projected shortage. The schools can't prepare enough nurses.

Do you mind me asking what state this is?

AutumnApple · Nov 17, 2017

Do you mind me asking what state this is?

https://allnurses.com/general-nursing-discussion/do-asn-adn-1136004-page2.html#post9641887

I'm in PA and there is a palpable shortage here. Facilities can't hire people fast enough and the "Lets retain our nurses" approach is in place again.