The BON gives us until the last day of the expiration month to renew our license. I renewed my RN license on the morning of 30th and checked to make sure I was showing on the Board's site as renewed. I was. I printed out the receipt and notified my director.
Two days later, I went to clock in for my 7p weekend night shift. The clock let me clock in. I went to the unit, took report (viewing computer chart data via the off-going nurse's log-in), and started caring for my patients. Later, when I finally had occasion to log-on, the computer wouldn't let me in.
The IT folks said I was locked out because of an expired license and that the only one who had the authority to change it was HR.
My clinical mgr. was as caught off guard as I. She'd already verified my renewal and, obviously, let me come to work. By the time she checked with the director and arranged for someone to take my assignment, and I gave report, it was after midnight. I'd worked roughly 6 hours. I was sent home for the weekend until HR could straighten things out.
Apparently our HR uses a 'third party' to handle much of it's processes, this included. I told my director I wanted to be paid not only for the time I worked but also for the time I missed due to the error--someone else's error, not mine.
Result: They are 'investigating it.'
Has anyone else had this happen to them?
What was the outcome?
Are there any laws that govern this, or are we at the mercy of company policy?
no matter how irritated y'all want to get with the OP, she is within the law, she renewed, plenty of time for HR to deal, 2 plus days. she did her part, within the law, now it is her employers turn to do there part.
There are 2 issues here, the law and the employer's policy. The OP has already indicated that she did not know that her employer outsourced verification to a 3rd party, therefore she failed to inform herself of the employer's policy, procedure and practice regarding license renewal and verification. The employer has not only a legal right, but a legal responsibility to establish it's own PP&P, which may be more strict that the BON. The employee apparently did not ask or investigate on her own the details of the employer's policy regarding renewal and verification. Bad move on her part.
I don't want to appear as if I'm piling on the OP, but, unfortunately, this is a lesson that was learned in one of the most difficulty ways. I recently renewed my license--my license next needs to be renewed in 2016. Not only do I know that, I know the exact date that it expires almost 2 years from now. Furthermore, there is a 3 month renewal window, and I get notice from my state BON that I need to renew.
I also get an email from work to remind me my license is up. With about a month to go I get another email from work. There are probably more after that. Each email from work includes a line that says "do not wait until the last minute. The state BON website may take a few days to update, as will the HR records." The OP may not have had the luxury of such an email from work; however, it seems reasonable to me to have the understanding that, when a mix computer records and human "fact checkers" are being used, a few days of lag time can occur.
I would not advocate for further disciplinary action, but I would say lesson learned and move on. I don't think much good will happen for further pursuing this.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
There is a saying I love. It goes something like this...."Plan for the best, prepare for the worst". This is a clear case of that. In a bureaucratic institution such as a large hospital chain you can count on things not running as efficiently as you would like. Therefore if you wait until the last minute (and I am sorry but yes, waiting until the 30th for something deadlined by the 31st IS waiting until the last minute, especially if you had six weeks to handle it!!!), you have to be prepared that others will ALSO not be completely on top of getting things done. I find it amusing that the OP is crying foul for someone else doing a less than efficient job in dealing with the issue.
Bottom line is...leave enough time in the process to deal with any issues that arise before they become a problem. Were you technically within the time frame? Of course you were. Did it work out? Nope. Since you can't control what others do, only yourself, stack the odds in your own favor and in the future do things far enough ahead of time that if a problem arises there is sufficient time to deal with it before you lose money. Take responsibility for your part in this debacle and make sure it doesn't happen again. You can't cry foul over someone else being inefficient when you yourself procrastinated this much. I don't think you should be "punished" per se, but I also don't think anyone owes you pay for work you didn't do. This was preventable.
no matter how irritated y'all want to get with the OP, she is within the law, she renewed, plenty of time for HR to deal, 2 plus days. she did her part, within the law, now it is her employers turn to do there part.
She did renew on time. You're right. I think payment for the 6 hrs she worked would be sufficient. Pushing for those hrs unworked is an overreach.
I would definitely be looking at repurcussions, if I demanded to be paid for the W/E I was locked out of the system. Maybe not fired, but I wouldn't be called for extra shifts. Maybe I'd have to take call more frequently, take the crappiest team, or be scheduled without a CNA. Let's not even consider what they could do to my schedule.
There is all kinds of retaliation available to your boss that's legal.
She renewed it within the guidelines of the law and hospital policy. HR screwed up. It sucks. Sorry, OP.
She certainly met the legal requirements--she had a valid license when she showed up to work her scheduled shift. However, I'm not sure about the hospital policy part. Maybe the policy does just say "have a valid license;" but, it may say "have a valid license that is verified electronically by HR." For all we know, the policy may state that verification by HR may take up to 2 business days.
My guess is that you aren't a nurse yet. And that the OP is a new nurse. You're both young and have much to learn.
I was with you until this comment. What the heck does age have to do with the OP's procastination? And what is with your strong dislike towards new and young nurses? Jeeze...
OP, you shouldn't have waited until the last possible moment to have gotten your license renewed. You are lucky that you weren't written up as your procrastination cost the unit to be short a nurse. Next time, don't wait until the last minute to get your **** together.
I was with you until this comment. What the heck does age have to do with the OP's procastination? And what is with your strong dislike towards new and young nurses? Jeeze...
Her post was quoted and directed to malestunurse, who, according to profile is a pre-nursing student, who, doesn't have any idea how not having your license renewed on time can potentially have serious repercussions that the employer can enact; including write-up, suspension, as well as taking one off the schedule until the license can be verified and a copy can be presented to the employer.
Her post was quoted and directed to malestunurse, who, according to profile is a pre-nursing student, who, doesn't have any idea how not having your license renewed on time can potentially have serious repercussions that the employer can enact; including write-up, suspension, as well as taking one off the schedule until the license can be verified and a copy can be presented to the employer.
Nor do you really know how much that license means until you have earned it. It is more than just a piece of paper…it is your life! And something your employer takes very seriously if you are a nurse.
Plus you can look up you name on a government website! (The good kind!!)
Her post was quoted and directed to malestunurse, who, according to profile is a pre-nursing student, who, doesn't have any idea how not having your license renewed on time can potentially have serious repercussions that the employer can enact; including write-up, suspension, as well as taking one off the schedule until the license can be verified and a copy can be presented to the employer.
My guess is that you aren't a nurse yet. And that the OP is a new nurse. You're both young and have much to learn.
That is what I was responding to...and as TheCommuter pointed out, the OP is neither a new nurse nor a youngin'.
You should have been treated like a PROFESSIONAL by HR ....and been notified by them that they had not received your renewal.
Instead of giving you the respect you deserve, they took time out of their busy day:sarcastic: to notify IT that you are a bad bad nursie. They COULD have taken that time to contact you and inform you of the action they were going to take!
Lesson learned, HR is not your friend. Going for the weekend pay is a push back that may backfire.
You should have been treated like a PROFESSIONAL by HR ....and been notified by them that they had not received your renewal.
Instead of giving you the respect you deserve, they took time out of their busy day:sarcastic: to notify IT that you are a bad bad nursie. They COULD have taken that time to contact you and inform you of the action they were going to take!
Lesson learned, HR is not your friend. Going for the weekend pay is a push back that may backfire.
Good luck , let us know the outcome.
OP was notified that HR didn't receive her renewal. That is why she was pulled off work. Bottom line is it was OPs responsibility to renew her license in time for HR to be updated. Poor planning on her part doesn't constitute an emergency on anyone else's part.
Jolie, BSN
6,375 Posts
There are 2 issues here, the law and the employer's policy. The OP has already indicated that she did not know that her employer outsourced verification to a 3rd party, therefore she failed to inform herself of the employer's policy, procedure and practice regarding license renewal and verification. The employer has not only a legal right, but a legal responsibility to establish it's own PP&P, which may be more strict that the BON. The employee apparently did not ask or investigate on her own the details of the employer's policy regarding renewal and verification. Bad move on her part.