Scheduled to work called out due to snow--can I be fired?

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I was scheduled to go to work today. I live about 40 miles away from work got in my car and found visibility to be very bad and did not feel safe driving--train not an option. I called out and was told that my patients needed me and that administration was not happy and that I would be dealt with later? Intimidation or is this ground for termination?

I feel that I give so much of myself at work. But it's still not enough. Can I be let go or this?

Specializes in CVICU.

double post.

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As a nurse manager having 1 nurse out makes it so difficult for the other employees and the patients. It is your responsibility to check the weather report and my nurses have stayed in town or in the hospital.

I disagree with you as not all nurses have the means to "stay in town". Some nurses actually are single parents and do not have the means to "stay in town" or be stuck in the hospital for days. How about this- Hospitals check the weather report and be proactive by having sign up sheets and coordinating with nurses who live in the immediate area and offering them overtime instead of considering someone a bad employee because they live 40 miles away and cant make it.

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Specializes in LTC, Disease Management, smoking Cessati.

Professionalism and responsibility are also involved in getting you to work safely, so if its not safe the responsible thing to do is call and tell them you can't get there... if you are injured or dead it won't matter if you get there or not now will it??? Everyone please use common sense in this time of unusual weather.....

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Specializes in LTC, Acute Care.
As a nurse manager having 1 nurse out makes it so difficult for the other employees and the patients. It is your responsibility to check the weather report and my nurses have stayed in town or in the hospital.

...or you could work the floor for someone who would be risking his or her life driving so it isn't so difficult for the nurses and patients...

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Specializes in ER, OR, PACU, TELE, CATH LAB, OPEN HEART.
As a nurse manager having 1 nurse out makes it so difficult for the other employees and the patients. It is your responsibility to check the weather report and my nurses have stayed in town or in the hospital.

That is all well and good. However, some are single parents, others are not experienced or comfortable driving in the extraordinary weather the Mid-Atlantic has had the past 72 hours.

I made arangements last night for my child and started off. I have four wheel drive. Was going to sleep in for today. Got less than a mile from home, was not SAFE driving. Came home, called and said I'd try this morning. Got up at 4am for 7am start. Live normal 30 min drive. Left at 5am, again less than 2 miles from home got stuck. Called and said I couldn't get there. By 11am today the city CLOSED DOWN. ILLEGAL to drive unless police, fire, ambo, snow plow, national guard, or utility worker. CITY told hospitals STOP transporting workers, keep and rotate current staff. DO NOT require staff to come into hospitals. Anyone driving will be arrested. This is a public safety problem.

ALso, better to be safe and available for the long run. Everyone must do what is right for them and their families. I am all about dedication and professionalism. But Personal Safety FIRST.

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Specializes in Rehab, Infection, LTC.
Did "Administration" offer to send out a 4X4 or a snowmobile to pick you up?

Does the facility have an emergency snow plan?

I think they were trying to intimidate you.

You would be of no help to anyone if you were injured or killed attempting to get to work!!! Safety comes first!!!

on the other hand, if you know you are scheduled to be at work, you should make sure you are there. if that means staying the night before, staying in a nearby motel, whatever, but you know you are scheduled. so calling in during weather is no excuse.
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Specializes in PICU, NICU, L&D, Public Health, Hospice.

Nope southernbeegirl, a person does not have to go to the expense of a hotel to be available to their employer in a blizzard. This is not a requirement, and is sort of a silly expectation.

From your statement I am guessing that you have never been involved in a weather emergency where people (or you) have been stranded for days. Weather IS an excuse in some circumstances.

Still, vindictive employers can fire you if they feel like it in some states.

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Specializes in LTC, Acute Care.
on the other hand, if you know you are scheduled to be at work, you should make sure you are there. if that means staying the night before, staying in a nearby motel, whatever, but you know you are scheduled. so calling in during weather is no excuse.

WRONG. Maybe it doesn't happen where you are from, but the weather people do get it wrong frequently enough. Day shift people shouldn't have to get up at 2 a.m. for a 6 a.m. shift to see if the weather is still okay when it was predicted that it would be decent enough the night before. Besides, 4 hours is a LONG time around here to have roads go to hell and be completely unsafe for driving.

BTW-I'm using the example of 4 hours because someone else mentioned it.

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Specializes in LTC, peds, rehab, psych.

Ok, I can't help but be biased about this because I'm living in Pittsburgh, PA and we are in absolute hell right now. Those saying that nurses should get hotels close to their job and such, I really think they have no clue at all. I live TWO miles from my facility. At the beginning of this awful snow storm we had this past weekend I almost had 2 accidents on the way to work. One could have been extremely bad because I slid down a hill when my brakes were unable to stop me in the snow. The other time, a lady in the other lane slid out and almost slammed into my car. I also got stuck four times. This was in a 2 mile drive. I finally made it to work. Worked an overnight midnight shift while the snow literally poured down piling the roads with several feet of snow. Unsafe to drive in. Unsafe to walk in. Even in short distances.

Well after my shift, Sat morning almost every single person called off in the entire facility. It was a state of emergency here. And I got mandated. Did it suck? Yes. But I had almost wrecked at the beginning of the storm, so how could I be upset at people attempting to drive after it became insanely bad? Guess what. You make do. Our DON wrecked on the way there in her SUV. I passed morning meds, and then one of our nurses from administration who had somehow made it in took over for me after I had worked 16 hours. The housekeepers, and laundry personal that made it in worked in dietary instead. People got put where they were needed and we survived. Did I mention we had no power and were running on a generator, taking care of people by flashlight since their rooms didn't have any lights.

Not to mention, and I think I speak for other people who live in my area and areas like it, if we stayed in a hotel every time the weather man said "snow" then we would be living in hotels or living at work all winter. Most of the time you are able to get to work because penndot gets the roads clear and because we are used to snow storms. But sometimes it is just too much. This is one of the worst snowstorms we've ever had in Pittsburgh. Nurses stay safe! I love my patients, but when I was sliding downhill unable to stop and barely missing slamming into the car in front of me, it was my four year old I was thinking of, not my patients. Nurses are human and they can die in car accidents due to bad weather just like the office worker or retailer worker who gets to stay at home since EVERYTHING else was closed due to the weather.

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Specializes in LTC, peds, rehab, psych.

I also wanted to add that in Pitt this past weekend, most people who would have wasted their time and money staying in a hotel closer to work would have still had to call off when they realized they weren't going to be able to get out of the hotel parking lot.

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when i was a student, it was drilled into our heads about our responsibility in getting to work- no excuses whatsoever.

no gray areas about that.:)

and as another poster stated, if you're in an at-will state, you can be fired w/o cause.

leslie

I hardly think feeling unsafe in serious snow with poor visibility is an excuse.

I also think that, in this litigious age and given the news coverage the East Coast's weather has been getting (I live in Texas and it's all over the news here), a hospital would be hard pressed to get by with firing someone for calling in during what a normal, prudent person would deem dangerous weather. I mean, we're not talking a quarter of an inch of snow - in some places it's becoming feet and blizzard conditions.

If they tried that with me I'd be calling a lawyer. An attorney would LOVE the publicity from that one.

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As a nurse manager having 1 nurse out makes it so difficult for the other employees and the patients. It is your responsibility to check the weather report and my nurses have stayed in town or in the hospital.

Hopefully your facility will pay the medical bills of those RNs who are in serious accidents trying to get to work, or at least pay their increased insurance premiums from the one-car accident on black ice that happened when they were trying to get to work - and both of which kept them from getting there anyway, and THEN kept them out for two or three more days!

Or your facility provides child care for the single moms who are RNs who have kids at home and don't have the luxury of spending the night in an on-call room as a result.

Check the weather report? HA! As someone else here pointed out, in some parts of the country if they shelled out for a hotel every time the word "snow" was mentioned as a possibility, they'd be broke in a month. How about hospitals taking charge and looking out for their patients like another poster mentioned - how about MANAGEMENT 'fessing up a bit of proactive thinking and help their people out rather than point fingers when folks aren't willing to die or get injured for the sake of a job? Because no matter how much I love my patients or believe in my own work ethic, at the end of the day it's a job - because if I die on the interstate in nine inches of snow and zero visibility because some moron with four wheel drive thought he was invincible on ice I doubt my husband will be consoled by the fact that I was trying to get to work.

NO JOB IS WORTH RISKING YOUR LIFE OVER. That's what's wrong with this country - people seem to think there's some honor in wrecking your car in dangerous weather or not ever taking a vacation. I'm all about professional responsibility, but I have an insane love of common sense as well - and to sit back and say 'no excuse for my nurses' makes managers seem very out of touch with their nurses and very unwilling to work with their people.

I realize some folks have to come in (I'm in the military, and I live two miles from base, so you can bet if the weather here ever goes stupid I've got to be there - and I lived six miles from Duke just a few months ago when I was a civilian so you can bet I would have had to go in, and I'd be fine with that) but management needs to have a bit of mercy and exercise a bit of common sense when it's warranted.

Flame away if you must - but I still say attitudes such as this border on flippant.

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