Retaliation for voicing concern over unsafe pratices

[Keysnurse2008]

Hi,

I am looking for some insight into retaliation acts by employers.I am a RN in a ICU setting at a major teaching hospital.I have been a resource to my entire unit.I received a promotion only weeks ago.I received a email from my unit manager only hours before she fired me "thanking me" for my dedication to the new nursing staff. I have never been written up, never a verbal warning.My evaluations have been excellent in all my years at this hospital. Until this past month....

I voiced my concerns over some incompetency acts performed by a coworker-nurse. These were acts that were not merely mistakes...they were acts that could have resulted in patient death. I tried to set a meeting with my nurse manager to discuss this nurses incompetent level of function...and I was met with a date to come in for a termination meeting...mine!

This nurse was the nurse managers best friend and recently was her assistant manager.She had done office work for years and had not taken care of any actual patient in years. When she opted to go back into staffing she "refused " to "accept" any orientation....and so she was left to learn by trial and error.In a ICU setting...thats just wrong!Othernurses had complained to the nurse manager to no avail...but I am a lil different.I have a history of being a strong patient advocate and I had told the nurse who was functioning incompetently that I was left with no choice but to go to our risk management dept re: her unsafe pratices.Hours later....I was "fired" for an alledged documentation error. This same kind of documentation error has resulted in no disciplinary action for other employees.Secondly ...my chart had been altered after I left...so I actually never had a documentation error.I dont know what to do. I have been a model employee for years.I have asked for dispute resolution....but they keep postphoning the dispute resolution hearing. What actually happens in a dispute resolution hearing? Are they a sham?Do you have any advice? I feel like I have been incredibly niave.Like I should have seenit coming...but didnt.

Any advice/insights on what to do?

[Simplepleasures]

Hi Magic Avalon, I dont know if you included me in that update, but in case you did, here goes, my case in still in the appeals process.It takes years to either win lose or settle these cases, if one has found other employment in the mean time, its ok, but if you have been blackballed, it can be devastating.

[panhandler]

The teeth have been extracted not only from unions, but from professional nursing associations in our country. This means that employers can screw nurses over and there is no recourse. Period. My advice: learn the warning signs of a TOXIC UNIT. Test early and often. GET OUT OF DODGE if they test positive, and KEEP IT LIGHT... Do a good job, keep skills current, and remember that ALL INSTUTUTIONS have the SAME CACA. I am VERY OLD now and this is the sum of my experience. No one is going to hold your hand through your career. No patient wants to be cared for by a nurse who is suffering from the institutional abuse that should be blatantly apparent to you after your first 6 weeks on any job. Make your own job. Make your own life. Somebody gives you caca, tell them to stop it. If they don't -- then you decide ON THE SPOT to keep taking it, or to move along. Pick your battles. Don't rely on your bosses for "strokes" to your ego. Nurses eat their young. It's that simple.

[Simplepleasures]

The teeth have been extracted not only from unions, but from professional nursing associations in our country. This means that employers can screw nurses over and there is no recourse. Period. My advice: learn the warning signs of a TOXIC UNIT. Test early and often. GET OUT OF DODGE if they test positive, and KEEP IT LIGHT... Do a good job, keep skills current, and remember that ALL INSTUTUTIONS have the SAME CACA. I am VERY OLD now and this is the sum of my experience. No one is going to hold your hand through your career. No patient wants to be cared for by a nurse who is suffering from the institutional abuse that should be blatantly apparent to you after your first 6 weeks on any job. Make your own job. Make your own life. Somebody gives you caca, tell them to stop it. If they don't -- then you decide ON THE SPOT to keep taking it, or to move along. Pick your battles. Don't rely on your bosses for "strokes" to your ego. Nurses eat their young. It's that simple.

How does one explain all those different employers on your resume when applying for a new job? Running is nessessary sometimes, but what happens when there no longer is anywhere to run?I agree that the teeth have been removed from the very sources we look to for help. The only semblance of improvement in the nursing field seems to be in California with the state mandated nurse/patient ratios.Maybe they are on to something BIG.

[panhandler]

How does one explain all those different employers on your resume when applying for a new job?

HEY GIRL -- Who is writing the resume?

[gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP]

ok - tongue totally in cheek here and no offense meant but...

it *IS* funny that someone who is encouraging others to just jump ship at the six week point and/or run from job to job has the screen name of "panhandler"

:rotfl:

[panhandler]

well I DO take offense.

I am not encouraging people to "run from job to job" and I am not encouraging people to "jump ship." You missed the point I was trying to make, to encourage others to take an objective rather than a subjective view of employment. Cheap shot, miss gauge14.

[whistle1429]

this is just a sample of what i mean about the california nurse assoc.

this letter is from their representing attorney.... isn't it nice to know our rights? i think we all need to read the fine print, read between the lines, and remember that the union is only as powerful as it's members.

another side note... the nlrb isn't real! there are no checks and balances between the union an nlrb, so if you think there is recourse against the union, it's not through the nlrb, but through state court!

when i filed a complaint against my union/rep with the nlrb, the nlrb contacted me and stated, "im surprised you didn't file a complaint against the employer", i said, "i didn't know i could"... so i did. wasn't she so sly... after filing my complaint against my employer with the nlrb, i was contacted again, and informed, "although you do raise several issues that would probably warrant an investigation, it wouldn't look good on you, for you to go to arbitration with a complaint against the union who's representing you... so here's what i"m gonna do... i'm gonna drop the case against the union, and defer the one to arbitration against the employer.

when i later contacted her, stating that i thought it was outrageous that she gave my charge against the employer over to the same union rep that i had filed a grievance against, she dismissed my concern, and stated, "well, the charge against the union is dropped, i'm not going back there." i informed her that i may file another complaint against the union, and she said that even if i did, she wouldn't take into account my past complaints, and i woudl have to come up with a whole new set of charges.

i contacted the dol, attny general, ocr, and they all stated the same, as did nlrb... there is no entity that oversee's the nlrb. so... they "babysit" the union, but who babysits them???

what a failure of the entire system... what in the world are we thinking we have protection if we have a union for when really... we're in the same boat as those who are nonunion members.. our only recourse is really suing them civally...

read on... this came directly from cna's attorney.... become enlightened.....

subject: re: friday meeting

from: (attorney for c n a) @calnurses.org

with respect to your question about your attorney, you have already been informed, in writing, as shown in the jan. e-mails from ** to you which you forwarded to me, that your attorney may not be present at the arbitration preparation meeting or at the arbitration.

the reason is that the collective bargaining agreement (“cba”) is between "hospital" and cna. as reflected in article 16 of the current cba, only the “parties” to the cba have rights under the grievance procedure. registered nurses represented by cna are third-party beneficiaries of the cba but have no direct rights as a party to the cba. as reflected in article 16.b, at step two of the grievance procedure, even for grievances between the rn and the employer, such as yours, a representative of cna meets with a representative of the employer to attempt to resolve the grievance. only a party to the cba and not an individual employee can refer a grievance to an impartial arbitrator for determination.

cna functions in an arbitration to advance the cause of the individual grievant while considering the impact of the case on the bargaining unit as a whole.

there’s no issue of your “waiving” your right to have an attorney at the arbitration because you do not have any such right to start with.

cna will continue to represent you with the same care and dedication with which we represent all the rns at sl and hundreds of other hospitals in california and in other states.

cna does not use attorneys for all the arbitrations; we do always use representatives who are skilled and proficient in conducting arbitrations

the types of settlement offers that cna might accept over your objection, there is no way to create a list of hypothetical offers. the critical fact is whether the settlement is “reasonable” in cna’s view.

binding arbitration means that there is no right to appeal the arbitrator’s decision to court. under certain very limited and narrow circumstances, a union or an employer may move to vacate an arbitration decision but disagreeing with it or having lost certainly is not a basis for petitioning to vacate. sometimes an employer will indicate that it does not intend to comply with a decision, despite the fact that there is no legal basis to do so) and in that case the union probably would file a court action to confirm the award.

basically the arbitrator orders a make whole remedy so that your compensation and benefits would be the same as if you had not been terminated. typically a grievant does not get compensated for time spent in grievance meetings or preparing for the arbitration or for costs expended in connection with the case.

m. jane

legal counsel

california nurses association

national nurses organizing committee

2000 franklin street

oakland, ca 94612

[erichRN]

Dear TNNurse,

The knife in the back goes right through the heart. The way I see it is that healthcare is a money-making business that has nothing to do with good patient care-- except in the instances that good patient care makes money. Get in a position to leave the life somebody else has made for you and go out on your own and provide the kind of care that you know you can provide. It may not be in a context where you will make a lot of money, but the reward of personal satisfaction is much greater. Good luck and God bless you.

[gauge14iv, MSN, APRN, NP]

That letter is one of the horrifying and sickening things I have ever read - and it reinforces my very strong dislike and my stance against unions.

[Simplepleasures]

Read all of Whistle1429's posts.

[Myxel67]

well I DO take offense.

I am not encouraging people to "run from job to job" and I am not encouraging people to "jump ship." You missed the point I was trying to make, to encourage others to take an objective rather than a subjective view of employment. Cheap shot, miss gauge14.

I just assumed PANHANDLER referred to bedpan--not someone on the street with a homeless sign and a tin cup. Thought it was a witty name.

[panhandler]

Yuppers, my "panhandling" is of bedpans, o course.