Who's working all of the holidays?

[letina]

We just got our draft schedules for Thanksgiving thru New Years. I'm scheduled to work Thanksgiving, Xmas Day and New Years Day. We all had to give our preferences which of the holidays we preferred to work and which we would like to be off. I chose to work Thanksgiving and New Years and have Xmas off if possible, now I see I'm working all of them. It's supposed to be a 'draft' so I asked my NM if I could be off at Xmas and she said no......left no opportunity for discussion. I've not been in the US very long and still feel like the 'new nurse' so just wondering how assertive I should be. Should I try to discuss it further with her, let her know I'm disappointed? It wouldn't bother me so much if the other nurses were having to work all 3 holidays, but it's just me I feel a little let down because I've always obliged when asked to work extra days due to staff shortages, and this is the first time I've requested anything specific.

[icugirl33]

Hi,

That is just crazy that they would make you work on all 3 holidays. I would actually go to her boss and get the issue resolved but that's me. I have become very assertive after years of being stepped on. Life is too short to let people take advantage of you like this.

[mekrn]

Thats really unfair. In my hospital we have to work an eve and a day, i.e. Christmas eve AND New Years day, New Years eve AND Christmas day, or Christmas eve and Christmas day or New Years eve and New Years day. It is totally based on seniority so new people get whats left. Thanksgiving is paired with Labor Day, go figure!

By the way, if you had a UNION, this could not happen to you.

Definitely try to get Thanksgiving or New Year's off, and good luck to you!:icon_hug:

[letina]

Thanks everybody. After reading all of your replies, I decided to go back to my supervisor to discuss it further. Here's what she said......"there are 5 holidays, Thanksgiving Day, Xmas Eve, Xmas Day, New Years Eve and New Years Day, and you have both Xmas Eve and New Years Eve off, so you have in fact 2 of the holidays off"......my co-workers have all said that's total BS because they've always worked it so everyone has either Xmas Eve and Xmas Day off or New Years Eve and New Years Day off, and worked the other opposite one. Now here's the thing I can't get my head around......on Xmas Day there are 7 RN's scheduled to work, whereas on the following days of that week there are only 5 RN's scheduled. Census is bound to be low on Xmas Day (no planned surgeries etc) so I didn't think it unreasonable to take me off of Xmas Day and have me work another day later in the week when we will be busier. But she wouldn't budge. Everyone else has an Eve and a Day off (either Xmas or New Years) except me. So OK, looks like I'll have to accept I'm scheduled to work, but if I get cancelled at the last minute due to low census, I'd be really p....d

[JessicRN]

We are given a choice at first first choice and second choice. Everyone has to work as least one holiday. (new years eve is not a holiday) If there is a conflict, seniority rules. Me being the newby who works 12 hour nights I get only new years day off. I work the eve and day of all the other holidays ergo no holidays for me. The chances of me ever getting to do differently is nil to none as everyone has about 15 years on me. OH WELL

[Gompers, BSN, RN]

This could be an issue of seniority. If you are one of the newer nurses in your unit, you might get less of a say in what holidays you work. Usually they try to be fair, but if someone has to work extra holiday time or undesirable shifts, it's probably going to be one of the newbies. While this surely does suck for the newbies, I do think it's being fair to the senior nurses because they have already done their time, so to speak.

Also some hospitals have a rule that you have to work so many Christmas Days - like every other year, every third year, etc. That could be why there are more nurses on Christmas Day - they need to fulfill the hospital requirement, not just the unit rules.