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Discussion

Opinions wanted, please

Last week, my supervisor asked me to attend a coaching class. I've alway resisted coaching brand-new grads, and she thought this would make me more comfortable. She promised the class wasn't very long and told me I'd get CEUs for going. I said okay, and asked if I'd get paid for attending. She said they'd try, but probably not, but again emphasized that it wouldn't last long, and that I'd get CEUs for it.

So I showed up for the class, where I found out that not only was it an 8 hour long class (twice as long as she had originally said) but that every other nurse there (not from my unit, but from the same hospital) was either getting paid for the time they were there or was only having to work 2 days that week and was having their 3rd day be an education day.

I'm irritated that I seem to be the only one expected to donate 8 hours of my time and still come in and work 3 shifts. So I called my manager (who of course wasn't in) and left her a message, telling her what my supervisor had told me, that the class ended up being twice as long as promised, and that the other nurses in attendance were being paid (I didn't ask them - the lecturers made asked why people where there, which lead to a discussion about it.) Then I asked my manager to either find a way to pay me for my time or to take me off the schedule for one day this week, just like the other nurses.

I've left her 2 messages now, over the course of 2 days, and haven't received a call back. I know she's been in because I've talked with the secretary each time I've called, who has told me the manager has, in fact, been in. So I'm not sure why she's not returning my calls. If she can't accomodate my request, it would be nice of her to at least tell me that. But I have a lot of things to do this week, and I really didn't expect to have 8 hours of my time tied up with work related stuff. Had I known that, I wouldn't have agreed to go to the class.

I feel kind of like I was tricked. After all, it's of no benefit to me to be a coach - I don't get paid any more to do so.

I'm kind of at a loss of how to proceed. I'd like to have my complaint at least recognized, but if my manager won't acknowledge it, where else should I turn? Or should I just seethe in silence?

Featured Replies

Make sure you have 8 hours of overtime on your paycheck

  • Experts

Yes, please ensure you're paid for the 8 hours.

It is not your job to render services for free.

  • Author

But how do I do that? If my manager won't talk to me, what do I do? Do I confront her at work and force her to talk to me about it? I hate to do something like that. Or should I go to HR since she's ignored my phone calls for 2 days now?

I'd go to HR, or my supervisor's supervisor, or to whomever necessary, but I'd get paid. If everyone else in the class got paid, then the facility clearly expected that attendees would be paid for attending. If whoever sent you didn't understand that up front, that's not your problem.

Go to HR, or if you're unionized then to your rep. And something else I thought of: if she insisted that you go, then it could be considered mandatory. Anything that is mandatory is paid time.

  • Experts

you titled this post "opinions wanted, please". here's mine. i'm not interested in getting reimbursed for time i spent in a classroom or any fees i have to pay out for a class. after all i am getting ceus for it to keep my license active. without my license i can't work anywhere. my big thing is that it all comes under the umbrella of professional development. what i learn in seminars stays with me and benefits me long after and well beyond any particular job. i see nursing as a profession, not a job. having seminars and the time taken off to attend them is a nice benefit if the place i work for offers it. but i don't believe that it is anyone's right to demand it. that is something that is known up front upon being hired. when i start wanting to be paid for my time in a classroom or else not going, then i have ceased to take responsibility for my professional growth and have just relegated my status of professional rn to worker in the work force, someone on the time clock when i am at the work place. nurses have been fighting for years to change that image. taking responsibility for my professional growth is part of being a professional rn. that also means that if i am paying for my seminars i can choose the ones i want to attend as well. i read the information about them (date, hours, # of ceus given) before enrolling and i double check with human resources to find out what, if anything, i need to do to get reimbursement if that is one of my job benefits. i do that before the class. i don't delegate that to someone else and then fail to set a deadline and not follow up with them before the seminar date comes along. that's irresponsible.

If this was a class CHOSEN by the OP then I MIGHT be able to agree with the last part of your statement. However, if she was mandated to go (as it seems she was) then she probably does not have the same positive outlook on this as a learning experience but more feels she was forced to work for free...

Talk to HR

If this was a class CHOSEN by the OP then I MIGHT be able to agree with the last part of your statement. However, if she was mandated to go (as it seems she was) then she probably does not have the same positive outlook on this as a learning experience but more feels she was forced to work for free...

Agree.

The scenario Daytonite describes is not the same as the OP's situation.

I agree that when I choose to attend a seminar not connected with my workplace for my own professional development, it is my responsibility to make arrangements ahead of time. In fact, my hospital system does provide a certain number of "education days" per year (time to attend seminars that is paid as if you were at work) to encourage professional development. If I have used up my education days but want to attend a seminar, I can use PTO or just make sure I'm not scheduled to work that particular day. I have utilized all 3 of those options in the past.

However, what the OP is describing, unless I am misunderstanding the OP's post, sounds like a required inservice. While I agree that it may benefit the OP in the long run, I believe that it is appropriate to be counted as a paid work day.

Are you new at this job? At times, people try and pull silliness like this with newbies, I notice. Either way, I would try and pursue the information. As mentioned by MLOS, if my educational days were used up, and I still wished to pursue a class, then, I would expect THEN to use my time. However, the situation as described by the OP; I would inquire. You know, it may have been that this is not a popular inservice, so to speak, so, the supervisor probably tried to slide you in just to make the room crowded (I have seen that happen). I would want overtime, comp time or something and I believe you have a right to expect it.

  • Experts
Last week, my supervisor asked me to attend a coaching class. . . .she thought this would make me more comfortable.

That doesn't sound like a mandatory class to me!

I've left her [manager] 2 messages now, over the course of 2 days, and haven't received a call back. I know she's been in because I've talked with the secretary each time I've called, who has told me the manager has, in fact, been in. So I'm not sure why she's not returning my calls.

(1) She's researching an answer for you, or (2) she's turfed the problem off to the person who got you into this situation in the first place--this supervisor, or (3) you are going to get screwed on this, she already knows it, and she's too chicken to face up to you and admit the error. Picture an ostrich with its head buried in the sand and you are there. If you were entitled to be paid, chances are it is going to happen, she is just trying to figure out how to make it happen.

Next time, know what your benefits are before getting into something like this. It is OK to call Human Resources yourself and ask them. They are the people who have the ultimate say about whether or not the benefit gets paid or not. They have to know the rules on this stuff--its their job. They also know what forms you need to fill out to get the payments. If your manager won't give you a day off for a class work with the staffing coordinator in the nursing office if your facility has one.

  • Author

I know I have to have CEUs for my license - that's not the issue. My issue is that had I realized this class was going to be 9 hours long, I would not have chosen to attend on that particular day, no matter how many CEUs were offered. When my supervisor talked to me about it, she told me it was a 4 hour long class. That's why I agreed to go without being paid for it.

I have no problem attending things - of MY choice - without pay or on my own time. But this was not something that I feel benefits my practice in any way or was really my choice. It was requested of me (and it was something I felt like I couldn't really say to.) Plus, all the other nurses who work for the same hospital were getting paid, in some form or fashion, for being there while at the same time receiving the same CEUs. So it just seems a little unfair.

Anyways. I left 2 more messages with my manager, just asking her to get back with me. My supervisor finally called me back, left me a message saying she had taken me off the schedule for one day this week, but I'm having to take my own personal PTO for it, and she sounded ******.

Whatever. I'm certainly not attending any more of these classes at their request unless they some how benefit me.

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