Is Favoritism in workplace a form of Discrimmination?

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I am a nurse working in our unit for almost 2 years. I have been a nurse for 16 years, has MSN and because I am new in the unit, I hold a CN II position. Last year I applied for CN III position but did not get it. My manager said he was disappointed because I did well in the interview. He tells me that he will train me as a charge nurse together with 2 other nurses and then open up the CN III position again. 2 weeks ago he did open up the position. I applied. 2 other nurses applied who are younger than me in working in the unit. Only one position was posted. Last week, my manager told me he cannot give the job to me because he picked someone else. He did not only picked one but two when the opening was for one person only. He chose 2 because the two younger nurses( barely less than 7 years of experience as RN) are friends with him. I called our union but the rep. will not entertain me saying I need to talk to the nurses union rep in my hospital first. I don't want to go to the Human Resources because of fear my manager has connections in the labor department and may cause problems to me if I complain. Any suggestions for what I need to do?

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

You need to talk to your union rep at the hospital.

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You need to talk to your union rep at the hospital.

The rep for our hospital won't talk to me. Isn't that ironic. The last time I saw her was when my co-worker (African-American) had issues with my manager for some legal problems and my co-worker came out of the meeting crying and told me that the union rep who promised her tons of documents to expose my manager's behavior had shown nothing during the meeting and even sided with my manager. On top of that, she yelled at me for not helping my co-worker, which I know nothing about what was going on. I don't know where else to go.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

i attended an employee hiring seminar on thursday where this situation was discussed.

a. you have a right to file grievance with your unit based grievance staff member first.

b. when multiple candidates apply, person with most experience and education should be provided the position

employment discrimination

discriminatory practices

discrimination: nurse can sue for retaliation, testified on behalf ...

overcoming bias in the nursing workplace - featured stories

uk: direct discrimination case law

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i attended an employee hiring seminar on thursday where this situation was discussed.

a. you have a right to file grievance with your unit based grievance staff member first.

b. when multiple candidates apply, person with most experience and education should be provided the position

employment discrimination

discriminatory practices

discrimination: nurse can sue for retaliation, testified on behalf ...

overcoming bias in the nursing workplace - featured stories

uk: direct discrimination case law

thanks karen for the input. the labor dept. gave me january 13,2009 as appointment (which is too long). second, i would like to file grievance but my co-worker who had an incident with my manager has lost her battle. my manager has a labor rep inside the hr department. the grievance comittee is there too and i know my boss has higher connections that can save his reputation. which is giving me fear to loose my job if i complain.

my manager is homosexual (i don't hate him) but he knows i am a christian and he hates that. how do i know? because he mentioned already twice about my religious affiliations and that he said that he is the only manager who will grant a request on my religious background and that no one else will do it. meaning to say i am tied in his unit with nowhere else to go.

i agree with you that the number of years in experience and education

should matter when hiring someone for a position. i feel that my educational background was a waste for what happened to me.

i asked my manager what led him to decide not to give the job to me. he stated 2 reasons. #1 i said in my interview when asked what my colleagues and manager will describe me, i mentioned one trait of mine that i smile a lot (meaning, i talk and confront people in a professional manner and with ethics). his answer to me, if you want to be a leader you need to be stern. to him that is not being assertive. #2 he said that on the question of give a plan that will help improve our unit. he said my idea of letting patients write a quality care card (meaning patients write about their nurses on how they received their care on that shift to measure if the unit's staff is promoting the goal of good quality care) does not provide a performance driven work on nurses but it only enhances the morale of the unit. what do you think?

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Specializes in Med Surg, Tele, PH, CM.

b. When multiple candidates apply, person with most experience and education should be provided the position

I don't agree that the best candidate for a leadership role is ALWAYS the most experienced and best educated. I have worked in settings where nurses were promoted based on longevity and it turned out to be a mistake in so many instances. I would select a charge nurse based on experience, education, temperment, and character, and my perception of his/her ability to function in a leadership position.

It does sound, however, as if there was some discrimination taking place in this instance, especially if the Manager and two selectees are friends off the floor. I would pursue it, however, it may be a matter of accepting the fact that I will never be promoted, or finding another job, either with another manager, or another facility.

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Specializes in Med Surg, Tele, PH, CM.
#2 He said that on the question of give a plan that will help improve our unit. He said my idea of letting patients write a quality care card (meaning patients write about their nurses on how they received their care on that shift to measure if the unit's staff is promoting the goal of good quality care) does not provide a performance driven work on nurses but it only enhances the morale of the unit. What do you think?

Isn't your hospital doing this already? THey should be if they are JAHCO certified. Limiting patient satisfaction to your floor only may create a morale problem. If the entire hospital is participating, the data will be used by upper management to measure the performance of not only the floor, but the manager as well.

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Specializes in ED, ICU, MS/MT, PCU, CM, House Sup, Frontline mgr.

op: posters gave you good options. if those options do not work for you, then i would consider finding another job. i understand that it may seem like you are quitting but the reality is that you must weigh what is in your best interest. is it really in your best interest to work for employers that do not consider you promotable because they do not like you? why would you fight to continue to work in an environment that may make you miserable? if they are truly against you for discriminatory reasons, i would go through the eeoc while working somewhere else in the mean time.

i used to work for an employer that refused to promote me or move me into a different department despite my years of experience and my education. others were promoted that had less experience and no education. the reason was not racial in my case because the same occurred to two others who were white. the reason we were not allowed to move up or out was because we made the most money for the department. our boss' reasoning was bad... our co-workers saw how hard we worked and refused to work as hard because they knew that they would not receive any benefits from such efforts. long story short, i stopped asking for another position or applying for open positions... i found another job!

leaving was the best decision for me because remaining in the job was too stressful. not only was it a waste of my talents, experience, and education because it was an entry-level position, it also hurt my moral. ever since then i have been able to do a better job at finding employment. i learned to ask questions during interviews regarding the background of the people who interview me (red flags pop up if the manger or my prospective supervisor has little education and/or little work experience). i have also learned to believe in my worth and to be picky. you are a nurse with education and experience! know your worth and be picky! :twocents:

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op: posters gave you good options. if those options do not work for you, then i would consider finding another job. i understand that it may seem like you are quitting but the reality is that you must weigh what is in your best interest. is it really in your best interest to work for employers that do not consider you promotable because they do not like you? why would you fight to continue to work in an environment that may make you miserable? if they are truly against you for discriminatory reasons, i would go through the eeoc while working somewhere else in the mean time.

i used to work for an employer that refused to promote me or move me into a different department despite my years of experience and my education. others were promoted that had less experience and no education. the reason was not racial in my case because the same occurred to two others who were white. the reason we were not allowed to move up or out was because we made the most money for the department. our boss' reasoning was bad... our co-workers saw how hard we worked and refused to work as hard because they knew that they would not receive any benefits from such efforts. long story short, i stopped asking for another position or applying for open positions... i found another job!

leaving was the best decision for me because remaining in the job was too stressful. not only was it a waste of my talents, experience, and education because it was an entry-level position, it also hurt my moral. ever since then i have been able to do a better job at finding employment. i learned to ask questions during interviews regarding the background of the people who interview me (red flags pop up if the manger or my prospective supervisor has little education and/or little work experience). i have also learned to believe in my worth and to be picky. you are a nurse with education and experience! know your worth and be picky! :twocents:

thanks for your input. i feel i do have the same situation with you. i have a manager who won't promote me and possibly not anymore. he knows that i wanted to grow in my profession. if i move to another unit, i feel he may say something that may hinder be being accepted on another floor. if i apply for another job which i tried before sort of like a second job, he was on my reference before, yet never got any calls for a job. i feel like this is a dead-end-job. i am fearful of what he may do to me. you are right, those nurses he promoted earn little than me. my rate is a little higher on them. question: i have a family to feed, to leave my job without any replacement will be hard on them. if i stay in my unit, what will your suggestion my actions to show? still show my manager i am interested in growing? thanks.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

Sure you can stay for another year but how are you giong to feel when he promotes someone else over you even though you are making all these improvements? And I would use my manager as a reference ever. Obviously he isn't someone you want to reference you.

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

You say you have an MSN, what's the specialty? What position are you trying to apply for?

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b. When multiple candidates apply, person with most experience and education should be provided the position

I don't agree that the best candidate for a leadership role is ALWAYS the most experienced and best educated. I have worked in settings where nurses were promoted based on longevity and it turned out to be a mistake in so many instances. I would select a charge nurse based on experience, education, temperment, and character, and my perception of his/her ability to function in a leadership position.

It does sound, however, as if there was some discrimination taking place in this instance, especially if the Manager and two selectees are friends off the floor. I would pursue it, however, it may be a matter of accepting the fact that I will never be promoted, or finding another job, either with another manager, or another facility.

Yes, that is true in what you said. There are sets of policy on how a manager should hire, yet I can see clearly now because of what happened to me that even though there are policies layed out by the government regarding discrimmination in workplace, the manager still has the right to choose who he wants, right?

If I pursue reporting my incidence my chance of promotion is over even possibly not getting anything at all. Do you really need to be a "suck up" to rise in position ?(sorry for the terminology, but I think that is how it looks like). How can one impress or show to the manager their hard work and be respected when you know the manager does not even look into your work, although he always tells me "you are a good contribution to this unit..and yes I want you to grow". There seem to be some hypocrisy in his words. I feel I am being played around only. What do you think? Thanks.

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