low census, cancell that deprives nurses of their livlihooding shifts

Nurses General Nursing

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I am working my 1st job in a community hospital and I got a phone call asking if I wanted to be cancelled and be on re-call. I had no idea what staffing was talking about. Well it seems if the census is low, they call people to cancel them and we have to take vacation time or no pay. They are mandating time off on some floors. I was reading an article from the Mass. nursing association (they help w/unionization) and there take on it was that it is like a "rolling layoff" depriving nurses of their livelihood.

Just wondering if this happens at your facility and what your thoughts are about MNA's view. (our hosp. isn't union)

I have always thought that the mandatory canceling of shifts is grossly unprofessional and discriminatory to RN's. Ask any professional that works for a salary if they would accept that type of condition to their employment. I think not. Also if the census is low, that means that other areas have less work also. Yet I have never seen other workers (particularly office types) in the hospital being sent home for the shift.

Our union contract specifically curtails this practice and effectually limits it to PRNs and those RN's working an extra shift to fill a staffing hole. If an RN wants to voluntarily take time off/ be placed on call it is by mutual agreement only.

If they're salaried, they'd probably love to be told to not come in. They will still make the same money they'd make if they were working more hours.

It's people who are paid a wage, usually hourly, who take home less money when their shift is canceled.

It doesn't necessarily follow that other departments will have less work if the census falls. I agree, though, that secretaries, etc. should also be subject to cancellation if their workload falls.

Specializes in Physical Rehabilitation, med-surg.

I love getting cut. Too bad it rarely happens!

Specializes in Critical Care,Recovery, ED.

Clarification to my previous post. By salary I meant some one who wasn't self employed. It doesn't matter if you are paid hourly or salary to me it is still unprofessional and discrimatory practice. It is treating a professional employee akin to a day laborer. Again I ask is there any other professional employee who would accept 20% plus decrease in their compensation at the will of the employer on an ongoing basis. Why should nursing accept this? Many employers of nurses don't cancel nurses shifts. Why can't everyone?

Well, we don't get paid if we don't have patients, and our little CAH barely keeps its head above water.

The supervisor and staff work together so that those who don't have PTO available or are really hurting for money get to work.

Specializes in private duty/home health, med/surg.

We sometimes have low census shifts, usually around the holidays, and when that happens it applies to RNs, aides, and unit secretaries. It makes sense--why run with a full staff if you aren't at full capacity? If one floor has extra staff, they would be floated to another floor if they were short. If no other floor needs the staff, our policy is to take volunteers first, and there is almost always a volunteer before they have to go by seniority.

When I waited tables for a living the restaurant wasn't allowed to force people to leave if we had a low # of reservations on the books. They could offer, but it had to be a mutual agreement. I know this because I never once took it - I always needed the money too badly. It's a little bit sad that RNs are treated more shabbily than waiters...I just rechecked my employee handbook for my new job, and it doesn't mention mandatory cancellation/low census - if it's not in there, do they have the right to do it? I believe the policy is you can choose to either float or stay home, but that's anecdotal.

Specializes in Addictions, Corrections, QA/Education.

This seems to be a common thing. Where I live everyone's census is low right now (except jails and prisons lol) Many LTC facilities are fighting tooth and nail to get patients. The hospitals too.

I know that the LTC facility I work in "downsized" a bit. They were asking people with vacation time to take some time off.

Specializes in NICU, PACU, Pediatrics.

I am actually home today because I got called off. They post all these extra shifts and then cancel people so go figure...they do try to let people work their alloted numbers of hours so I think they try to be fair but they will not let us sign up that we would like to have a day off which makes no sense to me...I mean let someone who wants to be off be off and someone who wants to work work

When it's voluntary, it's ok. But what annoys me, is we can be short of staff, and we're supposed to work harder. So hospital gets more work for less money. But if census is lower, they call off until it's bare minimum staffing. So we never get an "easy" day of less work for the money. So the nursing staff always gets the short end of the stick. Either work or work harder. But never an easier day. Why am I supposed to "plan ahead" and save up PTO for low census and the hospital isn't supposed to "plan ahead" and save up extra payroll money for low census?

Specializes in cardiac rehab, medical/tele, psychiatric.

thanks for all of the replies! Where I am we also float to other floors. It seems that all of the hospitals around here are having the same issues, which I find scary. I am looking for PRN work as well. I was talking to another RN last night and she told me that last year they were so busy they mandated her to do doubles (eve/night). Go figure!

Specializes in NICU.

Our management decided that we needed more staff, so they overhired. Now our census is down, and the staff are being docked. Staff can refuse to dock, but we check the date and go from there. I won't dock unless it is mandatory, and as far as I am concerned, if I have to dock several nurses, it is always mandatory! That term deals with being responsible for insurance if you want to dock. Eventually you would have to pay to cover the insurance benefit. If you want to be off that shift, it's not mandatory!

Most of our nurses need a paycheck, and are running out of vacation pay to make up the difference. I had to dock last night, and I won't take vacation pay to cover that day off. I can do that occasionally, but I hope that our census soon goes back up! I'd rather call people to work extra than to call them off.

Fellow Nurses:

Every state has laws that govern this type of behavior for health care facilities. Yes, they do have the right to call you off if the census is low. The catch is, only 1 call off per pay period or the nurse can request a low earnings slip, file for modified unemployment benefits, and then the state will determine if the nurse can get some form of pay. Most of the time the nurse is denied but in some cases they do get the pay. Usually this happens when there is more than 3 call offs in a month. The thing is this, once a facility has to go to all of the trouble to figure up your hours, fill out state forms, and show cause for the call off, it is better to let the nurse work. ALSO, they cannot force you to take vacation time if you do not want to take it. I worked for a place who did this sort of thing on a regular basis, the LPN's got called off a lot, the RN's were forced to work short handed, so a group of LPN's filed for low earnings, put the facility on notice they were expecting a full and complete accounting of their time, refused to be charged vacation for actual call off, and WON their pay. It did make a difference to everyone. More LPN's got to work, RN's had a better load, and facility was shown the law was there for the average citizen. Yes, this was an HCA facility, and it was years ago, but it was so nice to know the nurses had a little respect and power from other people in the state. Blessings to all and I hope everyone has a good shift.

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