Looking For Advice On A Hospital Job

[Lovethenurse2b25, ASN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

I'm asking for advice for a friend (colleague) of mine. 

My friend was hired at a hospital in Nov of 2020 at a Hospital. Due to covid all of the hiring process was completed Online including the new hire orientation. This past month there was a change of DON on the unit. The new director came forward and stated she is not working the correct number of hours. She currently works part time which is two 12-hour shifts per week. But the new director is saying the requirement is alternating two 12-hour shift on week and three 12-hour shifts a week the other two weeks of the month. The Don stated that the position is suppose to be 34 hours a week. Which doesn’t make any sense for example:

3x12=36 + 24= 60hours 

Vs 34+34= 64 

The hours still won’t equal out to be correct on a pay period. To make matters worse the hospital is saying they cant locate her original contract of 24 hours a week part time position. But they did offer my friend a per diem position instead. Can they do this ? It sounds like a cover up for something. 

Meanwhile another coworker of mine has been asking for my friends a part time position because he is in nurse practitioner school. So the past few months they have been accommodating his schedule. He was allegedly approved to work 24 hours a week instead of 36. But they wonder why the schedule is understaffed. 

Can my friend take legal action. Covid made everything a nightmare. 

[TriciaJ, RN]

Your friends should have kept their own copies of their hiring paperwork.  They're not going to get much help from internet strangers responding to third-party queries.

All you can do is be supportive and wish them well sorting out their own employment issues.

[Lovethenurse2b25, ASN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

On 7/12/2021 at 2:12 PM, TriciaJ said:

Your friends should have kept their own copies of their hiring paperwork.  They're not going to get much help from internet strangers responding to third-party queries.

All you can do is be supportive and wish them well sorting out their own employment issues.

Thanks for responding. Im just praying for the best. I really wanted to be of help. 

[Daisy4RN]

The only hope your friend has is if they have paperwork. But even if they did it is still not a guarantee that they would still get those hours. Employers can pretty much do what they want, unfortunately! I don't understand the way the hours add up either but HR or manager should be able to explain/clarify. I highly doubt any legal action would help. I have worked for hospitals with unions that did this stuff all the time, they were zero help! Good luck to your friend!

[JBMmom, MSN, NP]

That's unfortunate that things have gotten complicated. Since everything was done electronically, perhaps your friend has copies of the offer and correspondence? As others have mentioned there is likely not much recourse with corporations largely being able to do what they want. 

[Been there,done that, ASN, RN]

Since the hiring process was done online, your friend should have a copy of the hiring agreement. Could not hurt to have a pro bono look at the agreement.  But that would just  tick off DON .. and she would push him out. It sounds like new DON needs more staff.. and is  trying to squeeze a couple more shifts out of your friend.

 I myself would just get outta Dodge

 

[JKL33]

On 7/12/2021 at 11:00 AM, Lovethenurse2b25 said:

The Don stated that the position is suppose to be 34 hours a week.

"The position that was offered is the one that I'm currently working. What you are discussing is not the agreement that was made. No one hired me to work 34 hours a week but just randomly decided to let me work 24 instead. Twenty-four hours per week was and is the agreement."

There is no legal action to be taken. Your friend would take this to the union if present or accept that other employment arrangements are at-will and employers write language into their contracts to protect themselves/allow themselves to change whatever they want as long as they aren't violating very specific laws that don't apply here.

I would certainly state my case in a straightforward business tone as above and let the chips fall where they may. Work the requested hours or be prepared to end the relationship.

[mmc51264, BSN, MSN, RN]

Do her pay stubs have FTE units?  I.e. I am a FTE 0.9 (3 x 12 =36). I have a friend that works 2-12s one week and 3-12s one week, of a 2 week pay period. On her pay stub it says FTE .7 (or something to that effect) Another does 2-12s per week and it is an FTE .6

Somewhere there has to be a contract. You are right, something fishy is going on. 

[Lovethenurse2b25, ASN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

On 7/13/2021 at 7:23 PM, mmc51264 said:

Do her pay stubs have FTE units?  I.e. I am a FTE 0.9 (3 x 12 =36). I have a friend that works 2-12s one week and 3-12s one week, of a 2 week pay period. On her pay stub it says FTE .7 (or something to that effect) Another does 2-12s per week and it is an FTE .6

Somewhere there has to be a contract. You are right, something fishy is going on. 

My friends schedule says .6 but HR emailed him and said it was an error he’s suppose to be a .8. He decided to eventually go with other employment. According to HR Mandatory overtime is dependent on the department need. My friend is a new nightshift worker like myself and terribly afraid of now being able to stay awake all of the hours. 

[Emergent, RN]

They have staffing needs and also there is definitely nepotism going on with that nurse practitioner student. The new director of nursing is trying to strong-arm your friend. Your friend can always go to per diem. That would give her the flexibility to look for a new job. That is my recommendation.

[Robmoo, ADN, BSN, RN]

Employment contract?  A lot is going to depend on the laws of the state in which your friend practices. 

Here in Texas generally when you are an employee it is at will and in theory either party can change the terms of employment or end employment at will.  If one is contract such as from a travel firm or nursing agency that is different. 

It sounds like your friend needs to do some negotiating.  If he/she likes working there then he/she may have to work more hours, but perhaps can negotiate to work fewer than the hours the DON is asking.  He/she might offer to work the extra shift every other week while the unit is having staffing difficulties with the understanding that he/she can go back to 2 12 hour shifts a week once the crisis is over.  If the 2-3 schedule becomes too much and your friend has taken the team player route the you can always go back later and renegotiate.  Something tells me that her DON is hurting for staff and if your friend say no that the DON will take what they can get until the staffing crisis is over, but if he/she enjoy working there it is much better to try to be a team player.  

[Hannahbanana, BSN, MSN]

Lessee now. 52 weeks in a year = 26 2-week pay periods, or 13 4-week pay periods.

On 7/12/2021 at 11:00 AM, Lovethenurse2b25 said:

alternating two 12-hour shift on {{ one? or two? HB}}  week and three 12-hour shifts a week the other {{other?}} two weeks of the month.

So I’m kind of confused about this, since there are more than 3 weeks in a month...

If I understand you correctly, I think you’re looking at a four-week rotation with 2 weeks x 24 hours plus 2 weeks x 36 hours in it, for a total of 48+72 = 120 hours in four weeks, which averages out to 30 hours/week.

If you’re looking at a three-week rotation (one week c 2 12s and two weeks c 3 12s each), that would be (2 x 12)+ (3 x 12) + (3 x 12) for a total of 24+36+36 = 96 hours/3 weeks, or 32 hours per week on average. Another way to look at that is 8 shifts in 3 weeks, totaling 96 hours.

Your original post doesn’t make it clear— “on” or “one”? Three weeks or four? How many weeks in a pay period? Can you check again please?