Request for vacation

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Dec 8, 2015

If the vacation request is not approved, can you not take an unpaid leave of absence to spend time with your uncle in February? Good luck to you, and I hope the outcome is favorable for you.

meanmaryjean, DNP, RN · Dec 8, 2015

I'm going to be honest here: No sugar coating. While I sympathize about your uncle, you are in no place to just buy tickets and dictate terms to your manager. You should have ASKED first before assuming the entire unit's scheduling and staffing revolved around you, the newest member of the staff. You should have ASKED before purchasing those tickets. Two weeks? You could not visit over a couple of days?

I'm afraid you're going to be eating the cost of those tickets.

JustBeachyNurse, LPN · Dec 8, 2015

It's highly likely it won't be approved. You should have discussed before purchasing tickets. An uncle isn't an immediate family member and most bereavement policies only give a single bereavement day to attend the funeral. IMHO for a new hire new grad you are not likely to get such a long request granted for an extended family member without risking your job. Are you on orientation?

If so tread lightly it may be a deciding factor in keeping employed.

jenni23 · Dec 8, 2015

It's highly likely it won't be approved. You should have discussed before purchasing tickets. An uncle isn't an immediate family member and most bereavement policies only give a single bereavement day to attend the funeral. IMHO for a new hire new grad you are not likely to get such a long request granted for an extended family member without risking your job. Are you on orientation?
If so tread lightly it may be a deciding factor in keeping employed.

I'm off of orientation...

Mavrick, BSN, RN · Dec 9, 2015

Hi I'm a new graduate nurse who just got off of orientation.. I was planning to tell my new manager that I'm need time off from Feb15-Mar.1 2016.My uncle is very ill and his health is going down hill and I wish I could go sooner but she already has me in the schedule for dec. and January. I was planning to talk to her in person about it and write an email to her about tomorrow. Any suggestions??? My concern is may not approve it, I already bought tickets .

If this was something you knew in advance, you make it part of the terms under which you accept the position. "I know I won't be eligible for vacation so soon, but I already have plans for xxxxxx and will need those dates off." You get approved, then you take the job. I did this with a job where I had already planned and paid for a cruise six months earlier that would be coming up within the first three months of starting my new job.

If you ask and don't get approved then it's a lesson learned for the price of tickets. If you want to get creative and attempt to cover your shifts with trades or per diem nurses, your manager might see your efforts at not leaving the unit short staffed, feel sorry for you and grant you a favor. But don't expect it or threaten her with an "I already bought my ticket" excuse. You are not entitled to any time off.

If you are in a "right to work" state, you could stay with your uncle as long as you want to because you will not have a job when you get back. Read your employee handbook very carefully and see when you will be eligible for vacation, how far in advance you need to request etc. then submit the paperwork properly. You might inspire your ill uncle perk up and wait for you.

not2bblue · Dec 9, 2015

Depends on your policy. Even off orientation, you are new. I very much doubt you have accrued enough PTO for that long off and many places do not approve time off if you dont have the PTO, unless you are taking FMLA. Uncle isnt going to qualify. Also, this is going to sound very, very cruel but be prepared in case it gets asked. If your uncle is so ill (and possibly dying) why are you waiting 3 months for time off? It sounds like a phony excuse. I am NOT saying it is, just like it may come across that way. I know you said you couldn't get the time off due to the holidays but planning that far in advance to visit a sick uncle sounds fishy to a manager. Especially given you have already bought the tickets. Btw, I worked my schedule and bought tickets to see my declining grandmother so I know of which I speak. Had to pay a fee to bump it up for her funeral because she didn't make it to the end of the week before I could get there. So I'm not being mean to you since I never got to see my grandmother alive at the end and it was only a week. She wasnt really all that sick, you just can't predict these things sometimes.

Decade1 · Dec 9, 2015

Get business like about it- ask for the time off, if they don't approve it deal with the repercussion and move on. I wouldn't think this is a fireable issue, but even so worst case scenario you get fired and get another job. Life goes on. Your employer does not own you. You are free to plan your life as you wish. The less emotional you get about it the better. Things will probably work out anyways. They often do, but not until we get all stressed about it.

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Dec 17, 2015

I would have asked first and then just took a long weekend. Asking for 2 weeks is a long shot.

Our hospital policy states that you can not take vacation time/time off in the probation period. Check your HR manual.