I asked for Christmas off and they...

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Wouldn't you like to have Christmas off? Is your place of work over staffed during the holiday season? New Years? If you had a choice which day would you rather have off Christmas Day or New Years Day?

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Specializes in retired LTC.
I was told this year that "only people with families get Christmas off". I totally expected to be working Christmas, and I'm not upset about that but uhhh, what? Just because I don't have kids, doesn't mean I don't have a family!
I think this is legally discriminatory. I would check with the Dept of Labor to really confirm this and I'd also check in with HR.

Technically, they can't ask you about your parental status when interviewing. You MAY choose to list kiddos for IRS, health insurance or emergency notification, but you really can choose to leave them off if you desire.

If you worked in a US/Mex border state and they gave Cinco de Mayo off to Hispanic nurses, that would be discriminatory, yes? I think they're stepping over the line with this decision.

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When I was a newbie RN, I opted to work Christmas and would swap with whichever nurse asked me first to switch. My parents were always with me and my sisters when we were little so I was OK with working Christmas. At the time.

However, this got old after a while, and after a while, I wanted to be with my parents for the holiday as they aged. I worked my Dad's last Christmas as his health was failing. He so enjoyed the holiday with us girls, so I regret that I missed his last Christmas.

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Specializes in PeriOp, ICU, PICU, NICU.

I think we will be understaffed (again). Not because there aren't enough willing people but because administration purposely does that.

This past holiday the staff in the units worked short and although census remained high, those of us who were willing or volunteered to come in, were told to stay home.

They don't want to pay a regular shift, much less time and a half. It is a huge joke. I hate nursing politics and unsafe staffing rations. Gotta love Texas

To answer your question, I don't want any holidays off. I've been cancelled from left to right and NEED to work as well as my peers. I will be available every holiday but coming in will be a different story.

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Specializes in Acute Care, Rehab, Palliative.

Where I work we rotate Christmas and New Years. You either get the Christmas stretch off 23-26 or the New years stretch off 30- 2nd.Unless you volunteer to work more.I worked Christmas last year and then picked up New years Eve and day.

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Specializes in Certified Med/Surg tele, and other stuff.

Nope, cut to the bone and I'm working all of them.

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Specializes in Pedi.
I think we will be understaffed (again). Not because there aren't enough willing people but because administration purposely does that.

This past holiday the staff in the units worked short and although census remained high, those of us who were willing or volunteered to come in, were told to stay home.

They don't want to pay a regular shift, much less time and a half. It is a huge joke. I hate nursing politics and unsafe staffing rations. Gotta love Texas

To answer your question, I don't want any holidays off. I've been cancelled from left to right and NEED to work as well as my peers. I will be available every holiday but coming in will be a different story.

Same here. When I worked in the hospital, they WAY understaffed on holidays. Like we were supposed to have 10 nurses on days on a normal day and they'd put like 6 on for Xmas assuming the census would be low. And if it wasn't? Too bad, so sad, good luck finding someone who's not already scheduled to fill that hole.

When I worked in the hospital, I worked Thanksgiving and some part of Christmas (Christmas Eve Day, Christmas Eve night or Christmas Day) every.single.year. Thanksgiving was by choice- I hate the holiday and I preferred working. And spending two days in a row with my family on Christmas is kind of a chore too, so I always volunteered to do it. My favorite year was when I worked Christmas Eve night- because I could make a late appearance at Christmas dinner and then bow out early for being tired.

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I would have said, "So we're closing down on Christmas? It's not just having kids that means someone has a family!"

I hope the hospital is full of orphan RNs or that is going to be some slim pickings...

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We can list a preference to work either Christmas or New Year's at our work place, and the staffing clerk assigns you a shift. I think she tries to make everyone's preference work - people are usually pretty happy. You have to work one or the other, but not both. Unless you want to, of course. The only surefire way to guarantee this shift off is to book vacation. And unless you have tons of seniority, that is not going to happen.

We are not given options about working other holidays. It depends on where they fall with your schedule. I worked all of the summer holidays this year because it was just the way my schedule fell.

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Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.

My family has always celebrated holidays on whatever day we could all be together. It was very easy because our son never knew what day it was unless we told him.I remember when he was small and we would go out, we could sit him in front of a video or pinball game and pretend to put in a quarter-he would "play" the demo for hours. I love my gullible boy.

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Specializes in MDS/ UR.

I worked thanksgiving, pre and post day and was on call this weekend and the day of.

I am in management so my turn in the barrel is over till the spring festivities.

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Specializes in LTC, assisted living, med-surg, psych.

I'll work New Year's Eve and New Year's Day both without any complaint at all.....I don't drink, and we usually go to bed right after the ball drops, so there's never an issue with working that holiday. :)

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My work sometimes drives me nuts because if they're looking for people to work and you have a family or school or whatever it's okay if you can't work. But if they know you're single it's like "why won't you work?" implying you have nothing better to do.

I am working Christmas and actually excited because I have New Years off and can go out and party!

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Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
The thing is we can choose to be unhappy about working holidays because we work in a hospital. Or we can choose to make our own holiday on our own special day when we can get together with family and friends. I choose the second. It's a whole lot more fun![/quote']

I second THIS...been working well for me for the past 13 years. :yes:

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