My Girlfriend is an STNA working for a bully.

[quikl36]

My girlfriend is an Ohio STNA where she does home healthcare visits. First off, she doesnt have a set schedule. She doesn't know if she is going to have to work or not until the night before or the morning of having to be there. She sometimes gets phone calls at 4:30AM to go to work early because someone else called off. She has been trying to get a day off for the past 3 weeks without luck. Is there anything she can do to get some kind of set schedule or laws to help her. Her boss threatens her and tells her that if she can't work he is reporting her for abandonment so she goes everyday for fear of having that mark on her license. She also hasn't been paid since the end of last year and her boss keeps telling her that she will get paid the following Friday. She also only gets overtime pay when "he has the money".

Is there any advice you can provide to us?

I had a nice valentines day evening planned for us, but that got messed up because she doesn't know if she is working tomorrow or not and she lives 2 hours away and that made me seek advice on this situation.

Thanks in advance,

Brian

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

Just that she's insane to keep working for someone who doesn't pay her. And no, it is not abandonment unless she has accepted the assignment and she is not a nurse anyway so can't "abandon" anyone anyway.

She needs to tell him that she quits as of immediately. And pay for a visit to a lawyer just to put her at ease.

[quikl36]

She has been trying to find another job, but is getting help from the state to pay for daycare for her son and can't find a good afternoon program to enroll him in. I have been doing alot of research this evening about going after him for the missed overtime he hasn't paid her and what to do for not paying at all. I feel really bad because he is walking all over her and shes having a hard time sticking up for herself and doesn't want me to get involved cuz then she will get chewed out by him. It sounds to me like he is intimidating her into what he wants her to do.

[SuesquatchRN, BSN, RN]

I don't understand why she needs day care if she quits. She'll get the day care when she gets another job, no?

You can't take up for her at work, period. And he is a bully but SHE has to deal with it. He is also breaking the law in his treatment of her. But if you go after him she still has to work for him and if she's miserable now she'll be a disaster then.

You need a lawyer and she needs to quit.

[caliotter3]

She needs to go to the Labor Board and file a claim for withheld wages and find a new employer at once. There are a myriad of nursing homes and home health agencies that would be happy to have her as an employee and who would not hold back her pay. Tell her not to waste any more time in this situation.

[pca_85]

If it will put your mind at ease, call the nurse aide registry and see. I've done it, they can tell you what is or isn't on your license(nothing is on mine, I just wanted to make sure.) Her boss is a jerk btw.