Has anyone else experienced this? I just accepted a new position in an acute rehab facility. During the interview I was told that I would be replacing someone who wanted to work a different schedule within the company. I was also told that I would only rarely have to stay past my scheduled shift but that most days I would get out on time. I told the interviewer that I will work my five days each week but do NOT want to be called on my days off, as I am not interested in any overtime and she said she would make a note of it and wrote it down.
I am now a few days into orientation and I have learned from the other nurses in the facility that a.) I am replacing a nurse who got fed up with the working conditions and left the company without a two week notice, b.) I will end up having to stay over the end of my shift pretty much every time I work in order to get everything done, and c.) I received a phone call this morning at 6:30 where I was pressured to come in and work to cover a call off, even though I told the caller that I do not want more than five days a week and I am still on orientation to boot. She was not very happy when we hung up.
I feel duped and scared that I have gotten myself into something that I will regret. I do not appreciate being lied to and I think it was unethical to do so. Part of me wants to run before I get in any deeper and part of me feels like I need to stick it out, except that I'm worried that I will decide to do so only to find that I am constantly pressured into picking up overtime, being forced to stay over, and getting nagged to come in on my days off, in which case I will kick myself for not getting out right away. I am not afraid to say NO to the requests for overtime, but if this is an ongoing thing, it will make my life miserable anyway.
I've never signed a contract for a nursing job. I don't think it's standard here like it may be in Canada.
If it is in the contract that you only work this certain amount of hours per day/week and both you and the employer signed it, you legally have the right to refuse. What was said verbally in the interview can be disputed, and the employer can easily say, "I did not say that."
In some states and provinces in North America, there are different amounts of maximum hours you can work in a week before you can rightly refuse. I know in my province, you can be forced to work overtime.
Read over the contract, and call your ministry of labor. If it is not in your favor, it's your choice to stick it out or leave.
It seems they were dishonest but honestly, I would not hire a person in an interview that made demands up front. Especially a new nurse.
Well, I'm not a new nurse (graduated in 1990) but I honestly do not think it is demanding to ask not to be forced to work overtime or called every time I have a day off and begged to come in. If I commit to 40 hours and am prompt, professional, hardworking, and an asset to their company, why should I not have the right to just work my scheduled hours?
The nurses at this facility gripe, gripe, gripe ALL the time, and a couple of them have told me that they are applying for other jobs and will be out of there as soon as they secure one and that I should run while the running is good and before my license is compromised. Why would I want to work overtime in an environment like this, or actually work there at all, now that I know "the REST of the story"?
Don't walk, RUN! You are still on orientation, you have not committed to anything. Take the "dream job". I guarantee you will regret it if you don't. I speak from experience!
A pharmacy inquiry about your sloppy nursing led to your departure from nursing and it was the facilities fault for not having your back? Wow.
And what is up with all of these new accounts or "old" accounts with the first post ever happening in this thread?!
I actually am nob longer a nurse due to this issue. I wo worked eleven to.seven overnight I have autistic twins that my wife needed help with to get them on the bus so she could get to work by 9. Overtime began to become mandatory or face discipline. My charting became sloppy and at tiimes nonexistent. I complained to directors assistant directors to no avail. When I began to forget PRN apap to morphine, the pharmacy was called. Rather than coming to my side. My employer left me out to dry.
As this is a forum for NURSES, your professional licenses for endeavors other than nursing aren't very relevant here.
How the heck would you know what professional licenses I hold or don't? I hold three in CA! Real Estate Brokers License and two in insurance- over 32 lines thank you very much!
And no one's credibly was in question! Not the OP nor the company! The OP needs to look out for herself- sharing her current employment status off the bat to the dialysis company hopefully won't look like she jumps ships if things get to rough (tough concept I know). The current employer IMO doesn't derserve her loyalty to them, even tho they are entitled to their bottom line. She needs to be loyal to herself!
And since you took offense... My inquiry on the BLS was a question. That was the first time I've ever heard of companies hiring without current certification! I know... Difficult concept for me. But it was not a criticism. Stop been so cynical!
How the heck would you know what professional licenses I hold or don't? I hold three in CA! Real Estate Brokers License and two in insurance- over 32 lines thank you very much!
And no one's credibly was in question! Not the OP nor the company! The OP needs to look out for herself- sharing her current employment status off the bat to the dialysis company hopefully won't look like she jumps ships if things get to rough (tough concept I know). The current employer IMO doesn't derserve her loyalty to them, even tho they are entitled to their bottom line. She needs to be loyal to herself!
And since you took offense... My inquiry on the BLS was a question. That was the first time I've ever heard of companies hiring without current certification! I know... Difficult concept for me. But it was not a criticism. Stop been so cynical!
A real estate license is far from professional nursing licensure. Thank you very much.This is all about the OP, I feel that as you are not a licensed NURSING professional your advice is not comparable.
Cynical? perhaps.. I prefer to call it excellent critical thinking skills.
Please take any further discussion to a private message.
I personally think that you should give the job a chance. You are still on orientation, do not let gossip from other employees be your guide or be the deciding factor whether you stay at the job or not. Those employees who is giving you the information, they are still working there aren't they? You don't know why nurses are staying pass their shifts. There are a lot of nursed who wait till the last minute to do things and end up staying pass their shift to finish. You don't know because you have not started working independently yet. No job can pressure a person to work on their day off if they don't want to. I have no problem saying no, once I have fulfill my required amount of hours. In fact, if I don't want to, I don't answer calls from my job on my days off. I sent it straight to VM. You might be the type of nurse who is organize and stay on top of what needs to be done. Does the underlying circumstances really matter regarding why you were hired. Don't look at it as the job lied to you, come on now, you got a job and that's what's important. Health care professionals do stay past their shifts in emergency situations. It should not be a daily occurance. Still, you don't know because you have not given the job a chance. It honestly doesn't make any sense that you haven't start working independently yet, you are willing to give up a job based on rumors. Especially, from employees who are still working there. Listen, it does not matter that you told them not to call you on your day off because you don't work overtime. Yet, they still call you. In health-care the staffing coordinator is gonna call staff to see if they want to work OT. Sometimes they know who does not want OT, but that doesn't stop them from asking. It's par for the course. Give the job a chance because your reasons for not wanting to give up as no substance. Someone once told me that they have the mindset when they start a new job to give it a chance for 3 months no matter what. Within the health-care profession we are dealing with lives, not boxes therefore, stringent 9 to 5 is a myth. Give the job a chance that's all I can say.
Specializes in Psych, case-management, geriatrics, peds.
I don't mean to be condescending in any way what-so-ever. I take it you have not been a nurse very long? Almost ALL nursing jobs are like this! This is why I decided I'd only do nursing again if I am desperate for money; i.e., I am starving or about to be homeless. Since neither of those things have ever happened, I have not had to go back to being a slave...oops, I mean nurse.
I have been out of the work force since 1994 d/t a work related injury. nursing seems to have changed, really changed. many of us never got out of work on time, all that paper work & clearing problems for the next shift. it wasn't unusual to be called on a day off to come to work. we all knew NO would float us to a different floor. I started turning off the answering machine & not answering the phone on my day off. I didn't have caller ID back then.
also, an unwritten rule, staff doesn't appear for the next shift, we can't leave. usually it was a snowstorm.
interviewers should be honest. at one new job, I was never told I would be administering 8 hour chemo treatments. I also wasn't told I would be working charge every eve. I worked & w/e. it isn't fair. nurses work very hard to take proper care of their patients, sometimes without breaks & meals.
I spent 12 years in dialysis. if you enjoyed it, go back to it. now, at 67 years old, I would say that you weren't given the proper info, you don't need to give 2 weeks notice. you are in orientation, not working the floor. good luck, I'm praying for you.
I guess my problem, if you could call it that, is that the jobs that I have stayed at the longest certainly were not like this and did not treat me this badly. Because I have been a nurse for so long, I don't feel that I have to settle just to have a job. I posted my resume on Indeed.com yesterday and I have already received calls from three companies interested in interviewing me. I also have an excellent employment record at some pretty upstanding companies, one of which is the telephone triage company that I just had to leave to get healthcare benefits. Had we not needed benefits, I would have stayed with that company for the remainder of my nursing career, which will probably not be more than another five years.
Not all nursing jobs make you feel like a slave, but the ones that don't often take time and effort to find. Therein lies my problem; I should have waited for something better than grabbing the first job that called. I am old enough to know better, but sometimes we do things for the wrong reasons.
Most health-care profession has brutal work conditions (some more than others) and high turn over rate. Who said the job lied? She is getting conflicting stories regarding the circumstances of why she was hired. Who cares why? She has the job, she is getting her salary. I always find it funny when nurses trash talk a job to new employees, yet they are still working there. If the circumstances surrounding her hire is that important. If she is truly bothered about it, then she should go to who conducted the interview and hired her and let them know " hey, I thought you said I was hired because of such and such. Well, I was told I was hired to replace someone who got fed up" does that even make sense? It doesn't make sense to me.
BuckyBadgerRN, ASN, RN
3,520 Posts
I've never signed a contract for a nursing job. I don't think it's standard here like it may be in Canada.