Quitting Before My Four Weeks Notice

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Hello, I’ve recently accepted an offer at an outpatient clinic position M-F and will be starting at the beginning of next month. The hospital I currently work at required a 28 days notice and I have 3 more shifts to complete. I’ve been feeling tremendously burnt out working bedside, and we’ve been critically short staff for the longest time contributing more to my anxiety and feeling morally distress with this career...  I’ve experienced some of the hardest shifts lately, and particularly  my most recent one which lead me to not even want to go in for this next final 3 shifts. I’ve been crying two consecutive shifts due to the patient load and acuity and it almost feels like I’m being put on the back burner now that majority of everyone know I’m leaving. The policy requires a 4 weeks notice and calling out any one of those shifts will make you no longer Eligible for rehire ( which isn’t something I am concern about being that I’ve switched to a different hospital system ). I’m mainly worried about repercussion from management and personally I don’t want to let my teammates down ( those that matter to me ) but I am at the point where I’ve reached my limit. Just needing senior advice and outside perspective  because I am certain I will be calling out my last 3 shifts. 

7 hours ago, CShel said:

I was going to come here to say this. It is perfectly legit to call out I seriously doubt that calling out for the last few days of a 4-week (!!) notice is going to get you black-balled in the industry - that seems a bit dramatic.

It's not about the industry, it may get you blackballed within that health system and depending on where you live that could make or break your income.

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Specializes in Adult Internal Medicine.
12 hours ago, CShel said:

I seriously doubt that calling out for the last few days of a 4-week (!!) notice is going to get you black-balled in the industry - that seems a bit dramatic.

 

On 8/25/2022 at 1:32 PM, NPnowLlcConsulting said:

They  were fine before you and will be fine after you. Your mental health is way more important than a job and if they have a policy that they black ball you if you call out during your quit period then that says a lot about how they feel about their nurses as an organization. 

If you think that the employer isn't going to list the OP as a "no rehire" (or black-balled or whatever you wan to call it) after that OP agreed to work out four weeks and then called out the last week you are nuts. 

I am sure the company was fine before them and will be fine after them, however, the question here is whether the OP will be fine after this. Being listed as a no rehire in an age where single systems are becoming so dominant in an area is a career gamble. 

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This is my experience. Worked at the “best” hospital in the US so I’m guessing you’ll can figure it out. Worked at the COVID testing clinic. Company stated they were going to close the clinic immediately and I was having health issues  so I resigned. First, the company said they would help us with placement, then said no, they weren’t going to do that. Then said they would write a letter of recommendation for those of us there less than 6 months. Then said, no they won’t do that either. My boss called and said because I was there less than a year I was ineligible for rehire. The next day I got a phone call asking me if I was interested in working for said company. A few weeks later, I was hired at a SNF run by, you guessed it. This is the way our health system is run. Completely damn nuts. I’m a federal retiree so this didn’t affect me personally. But so very sick of companies holding nurses hostage and trying to ruin lives. 

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Specializes in Critical Care.

So, there are some things in your post that scream that you want validation... however that's not wrong. I think that sometimes we could use a little more validating each other in AllNurses... And I don't think some of the responses are 100% helpful.

It's hard to work through when YOU yourself don't have the experience to handle it in the best way possible, and I think people often forget how difficult it is to think straight when you're "in it." 

I've done things the "wrong way" and the "right way" - sometimes, no matter what you do, things come back to bite you. Sometimes life just isn't fair. You could tough out your last shifts. You could call out from work those days. I've been in situations where I WISHED I had called out because the environment became so toxic that every day I clocked I felt like I was agreeing to step into work just dangling my license out there.

There was a lot of risk with that situation and I was gaslit hard. I'll never forget one of those gaslighting individuals telling me all quietly and secretly: "perception is everything," and saying it in a way that left me feel very anxious and icky about the whole thing. There are some nasty people out there. It was so bad that I felt like I had nothing left to lose. I gathered my stuff, went to HR, and shared what was going on. HR staff were alarmed and other department Nurse Directors + our CNO got involved. I didn't do anything wrong and got out without a mark on my record, however I am still not eligible for re-hire for any place in that hospital system. To summarize a long story: I signed up for what to me sounded like a very exciting job, however, there were a lot of changes that the department wanted, and I was a naive little pawn used in that process. Everything was framed to make me look bad as a stepping stone towards their goals. 

Another time, I was accused of diverting narcs, and let go out of the blue. No warning. No prior write ups. During that meeting, I refused to sign anything - I had never come close to that. It made ZERO sense. I was at a loss. They said that they had made up their mind (despite my clean background and the clean drug screen I took when I got that job). I found my next job quickly - background & screens were all clear then too. 

It is unfair sometimes and I hate to say it: basically, you can get screwed over either way. The best you can do is do the thing that will increase your odds of NOT getting screwed over - which is where people would encourage you to finish up your last few shifts. You really have to look at the situation for what it is and not make it worse than it actually is.. If you feel like your license would be in danger (as in someone is legit gunning for you) I say leave 'em and call out and accept the losses/ burned bridges. If its a matter of just feeling uncomfortable / eager to get out, then try to stick it out and finish what you agreed to do. Remember that it would make you look better to finish it up vs bailing. 

12 hours ago, jobellestarr said:

This is my experience. Worked at the “best” hospital in the US so I’m guessing you’ll can figure it out. Worked at the COVID testing clinic. Company stated they were going to close the clinic immediately and I was having health issues  so I resigned. First, the company said they would help us with placement, then said no, they weren’t going to do that. Then said they would write a letter of recommendation for those of us there less than 6 months. Then said, no they won’t do that either. My boss called and said because I was there less than a year I was ineligible for rehire. The next day I got a phone call asking me if I was interested in working for said company. A few weeks later, I was hired at a SNF run by, you guessed it. This is the way our health system is run. Completely damn nuts. I’m a federal retiree so this didn’t affect me personally. But so very sick of companies holding nurses hostage and trying to ruin lives. 

YEP

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Just wondering if there are states where it is ILLEGAL for a former employer to comment on anything other than dates of employment.

My understanding is that commenting on a fact (such as "s/he did not give notice according to company policy" or "s/he had X number of call outs/no-shows") is not illegal at all, what is illegal is giving false information in a reference.

Many companies limit their outgoing reference information to dates of hire because they simply don't want to mess around with possibly being accused of (or face a lawsuit involving) false reports and don't want to waste time trying to prove that the reference comments they made were factual.

But if there are states where it is illegal to give a truthful  but poor reference I'd like to know where this is.

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