Right to Work State

[merri666]

In case anyone isn't aware, Mississippi is a "right to work " state which means if the State Survey team comes to your facility and you are truthful in your answers, you can (and most probably will) be terminated. So...my question is: what are we supposed to do? If we lie, we are violating our ethics as a nurse. If we tell the truth, we lose our jobs (and there aren't that many positions open right now). Somehow, being told you have done the right thing doesn't pay the bills!:angryfire

[Jolie, BSN]

If you are terminated for being truthful to a State surveyor, do you have an action under "whistle-blower" legislation?

[Jolie, BSN]

Right-to work legislation protects an employee's rght to decide for himself whether or not to join or financially support a union.

I believe you may be referring to an "at will" employment state, which allows an employee to be terminated for good cause, bad cause or no cause at all. However, there are exceptions. An employee can not be legally terminated for refusing to break a law at the request of the employer.

See this article: The employment-at-will doctrine:

three major exceptions

http://www.bls.gov/opub/mlr/2001/01/art1full.pdf

[merri666]

I was told (by an attorney) that the state of Mississippi does not support the Whistleblower's Act. It doesn't make sense to me. But I also found out that an employer can "bounce" payroll checks with no ramifications. I was advised to call the Department of Labor. The Department of Labor had been made aware of the situation and had already contacted my (previous) employer on the behalf of other complaints. Needless to say, I am really disgusted with the whole business. It seems that when you work in Mississippi you are at the mercy of the employer.

[merri666]

I would love to see Mississippi nurses unionized. The "open door" policy does not work. By the time you take a problem to upper management, the chain of command has been compromised. Other states (unionized) have nurse to patient ratio. The "good old boy" system in Mississippi has been allowed to dominate and dictate...and it is never for the well-being of the employee.

I was terminated because I would not give false information to the state surveyor... I notified the Department of Health. What scares me is that eventually my former employer will find a nurse who will lie for him. If it all hits the fan, he will say that he never told anyone to do that. The nurse will end up taking the fall for a problem that should have long since been fixed. It is amazing to me that even though the State does not condone such action, they actually encourage it by giving someone like this man chance after chance to pass survey. If it looks like a duck and quacks like a duck it is probably a duck. If it were a shoe store, the implication would not be so serious. However, when the lives of people (especially vulnerable elderly) are at stake, it is time to take action. I simply do not understand.

Mary