Hospital broke contract and now wants ME to pay 20,000!

[imalilteapott]

Ok I need some advice here.

I worked as a PCA and an ER tech while in Nursing School. At the beginning of my first semester of nursing school I signed a contract to the hospital saying that if they paid for some nursing school in turn I would work as an RN for them for 2 years. The contract I signed was VERY vague, said they would give preference to people with this contract but the employee CAN be asked to repay if they quit school or get terminated.

This hospital system is huge and owns 6 area hospitals. In December I applied for 20 RN positions at 5 of there hospitals. I applied for every type of floor and all kinds of shifts. I never ever heard anything from anyone in the 3 months since...not even for an interview with HR and I WORK THERE ALREADY!! I had a great review in January, well liked by the staff/managers on the 2 floors I worked on previously, good GPA, and 4 years of experience with the company and no disaplinary problems/background. I also know that this company put through a corporate wide hiring freeze in November. Then 2 weeks ago they sent eveyone letters saying they were no longer going to fill the vancancys!

The good news is in Febuary I was offered a great job at a University Medical Center. ( Better reputation, closer to house...) I took the job because I never heard from the hospital system I had a contract with ( and truthfully who knows what decade they would have called me for an interview at this point)

The problem is I heard from a little birdie in HR that in 6 -8 months the hospital will send me a bill for 20,000 !!????

So my question is What do I do!? I feel that the company ( not me) breeched this contract!

I have student loans to pay and I don't have a spare 20,000 sitting around.

PS- I also did have to go on LOA because of my health for 6 weeks in Sept. I am fine now. The same people in HR who fill out that paper work are the same who pull applications for HR interviews and to show the managers. Should I be suspisious that they didn't exactly love the idea of hiring a 24 year old new grad with chronic health problems.

( I hate to be paranoid but these days....)

:chair:

[Simba&NalasMom, LPN]

The only advice I can give you is not to start worrying until you know officially that they are going to soak you for this cost; you say a "little birdie" in HR told you this? I would take that as no more than a rumor at this point.

Maybe you can get an attorney to look over the contract that you signed; lots of lawyers do not charge for an initial consultation. AND in the future, never sign any contract without having a legal rep look it over for you. Good luck, keep us posted.

[dreamon]

Yikes. I hope the rumor is just that. Good luck.

[Virgo_RN, BSN, RN]

What steps did you take to transition into an RN position, other than fill out some applications? Did you talk to your nurse manager? Did you call anyone in HR?

[ohhnursie]

Hate to tell you this but I was terminated from a position for answering the phone wrong...no lie..ticked off someone due to HIPPA and got me canned. Well long story short I had signed a similar contract...of course loosly written and needless to say the judge the heard the case ruled in favor of the hospital. Should serve as a warning to all the students out there to use caution when signing on somewhere for them to pay for your schooling. I have found that most places that you actually would want to work at dont have to offer bonuses or to pay for schooling before they hire you. Alot of hospitals will give tuition reimbursement to current employees. Good luck!

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

First, the contract should have spelled out how much the buyout amount of the contract was. And if they gave the equivalent of $20,000 dollars of tuition, that is money that you would have had to pay anyway, even if you had not made the contract.

Second, in this economy, when there are hospital hiring freezes on, and vacancies are not being filled, there is a significant risk of not getting a job at that facility that funded you, even with "preferred" status. But I would hope that in that gap, they would only charge you the amount of financial support.

Third, I would "sic" Sylvester the Cat on the "little birdie" that sang to you. Then I would march down to the HR department and get the true and honest lowdown, instead of listening to "little birdies". You see, while some little birdies know the real deal but even more little birdies know just a few details, and some have it wrong. Birdies will sing a lot of things, but smart employees will get the truth from those in the know, rather than relying on birdsong.

Fourth, HR does not have to "sing" about your LOA. Managers do check out attendance/tardiness/reviews on employees when they apply to other departments, just as they do when you apply to other hospitals. It is information that they use to assess you - so even if it was for a valid reason - it still dings you. It does not matter what the absence was for (death of a parent, burst appendix) - many facilities do not differentiate.

The other thing is people talk. As a senior nursing student, I had several managers that wanted to hire me in my preferred departments. Unfortunately, I didn't "click" with a floor nurse and 2 of her senior nurse friends. I quickly found myself persona non grata in those departments. The reason was not fair, and it was nothing that showed in reviews or personnel records or in HR.

The nurse and techs that caused me problems, their careers fell by the wayside. Mine is still going strong and I am better thought of. What goes around, comes around.

The good part is it sounds like you have found a job with an employer that is doing well enough to still be hiring. Deal with the other as it comes after you ascertain the truth from those that know it.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

Good new and bad news:

You will be responsible for paying back the money the hospital spent on training you. Unless the wording is VERY in your favor (yeah right), chances are it is worded in a way that they can terminate employement without cause and you owe it. Thats the reality of these contracts. Its the part that doesnt get told to new grads. They are very binding..................to you, not the hospital.

Good news: You now have someone intereted in you. If there is a sign on, apply it to the money owed our former hospital. Take on the rest yourself, budget the payments and consider it bad luck that the economy went down on you at the time it did. Most nurses have some sort of school loans in their budget. You'll be able to live just fine.

[ghillbert, MSN, NP]

I'm not sure where the problem is. The hospital did pay for your education. If you're not going to work there, why wouldn't you have to repay it?

[Mr Ian]

As I read it: You neither quit school (congratulations) nor were you terminated.

I am assuming you have simply resigned the PCA/tech positions which, as a RN would be the norm.

You have applied to numerous RN positions within the hospital and they have failed to accommodate you. In the transition from unqualified to RN you have changed your role and they cannot continue you in a lesser role than you are qualified for - or if they think they can - well you've done your two years already whilst training.

In my opinion they are also obligated under the contract to offer you employment or they can kiss their losses goodbye. That is the spirit of the contract - they pay some training in exchange for you working for them for 2 years. It's a retention game.

You have your RN - there is no legal or technical reason they cannot offer you a job. If it's on personality or character - well they should have thought about that before offering you the contract.

If they do not offer you an RN position - you are not at fault and you have not breached the contract in any way.

Keep copies of all your applications and as much details as available on the jobs and if/when they were filled by other staff. I think you have done enough to show willing to honour the contract and they have defaulted.

[pagandeva2000, LPN]

Most contracts in my area say that if a position is not obtained within the facility that sponsored you within a year, then, you can leave. I think you have to investigate that portion of it first. I wish you the best of luck!

[Equinox_93]

If they try to bill you for it- tell them you are more than happy to take the 2yr job- and that they can just let you know where/what date to start.

[eriksoln, BSN, RN]

Most contracts in my area say that if a position is not obtained within the facility that sponsored you within a year, then, you can leave. I think you have to investigate that portion of it first. I wish you the best of luck!

Really. Wow. Guess there are contracts out there that are worded in favor of us. If thats the case, good for the OP. That'd be nice.