My hospital seems to be cracking down on absenteeism. The second person this month in our dept was just fired. He has a wife with severe medical problems. He also calls in for bs reasons I suspect.
He was fired while his wife was hospitalized and he called in. That seems like kicking a man while he is down to me.
I'm wondering, is nursing only for people with no health problems in themselves or their immediate families?
and things like this are why nurses will never be respected as we deserve or thought of as actual professionals. Does anyone use a demeaning kindergarten-esque demerit system with physicians re: calling off sick? Attorneys? Anyone in ANY white-collar /prestigious profession? No.
Most white collar professions don't deal with the staffing considerations that hospitals do.
My brother works in oil and gas and if he doesn't go into work he just catches up on his work when he gets back. No one has to be called in to cover him unless he has a meeting. Worse case scenario, the meeting is just rescheduled.
He would absolutely be fired for excessive absenteeism, but the effects of not coming to work aren't immediate so there's more leeway.
I do agree with your overall point, though. I'm struggling with the childish rules put on me at work when I'm a college graduate and a professional. We have a "points" system for calling in. Our meeting room doors are locked 1 minute after briefing starts in the morning so we miss it if we're late. We don't have a coffee pot because people "won't take care of it." We aren't even allowed to bring cell phones into the building. For someone that's supposed to be autonomous, I sure feel like I'm back in high school working at the movie theatre
Unless the person has FMLA then yes they should. I am sorry but absenteeism makes everyone else work harder. Nurses are already burned out.
You'd be okay going to work if one of your kids or your husband was in the hospital? I know I'd be too distracted to be a safe RN, and I'm typically pretty good about keeping my head down and leaving outside problems outside. But if my immediate family was sick enough to be admitted? No way could I ignore that.
The guy's sick wife was in a hospital being cared for. He doesn't need to be off then unless she's actively dying. More likely she needs him when she's sick at home and there is no one else to help out. If your spouse requires so much attention that you can't work, then do what you have to do; take a long leave of absence or quit and garner what financial aid you can get. Of course, that's what he has now but needn't have to be fired to get it. That wasn't too smart.
Call off cuz you'd rather be drunk is no different than call off cuz your mom fell and broke her hip.
I think my job is pretty generous with these days. If it becomes excessive, esp for medical reasons, one would need to cya with short term disability of fmla
Specializes in NICU, PICU, Transport, L&D, Hospice.
There are childish methods to deal with childish behavior of some nurses. Come on, we know who they are. The ones who gossip and back stab, the ones flirting with their next husband or sleeping with their next conquest while on the job. The nurses who barely make it out of the bars each night to get to work the next morning. The ones who are bullied or who bully others because they are more special in some fashion.
As a manager I penalized folks who tried to take advantage in a variety of ways. Misuse of PTO was one of the ways they took advantage. It is necessary to have team players on a team...calling off for stupid reasons is not being a team player. There are some employers, however, who are ignorant of the requirements of FMLA. I know a female RN in the Midwest who was essentially fired WHILE she was on FMLA for her cancer care. Fortunately, she was familiar with the law and pressed the issue. The VP who was attempting to fire her was ultimately removed from her position and then from the organization when her illegal efforts became known.
I use to think so. But when I consider workers that come in and cover shifts when they are able. Stay late to cover and do extra work. Then realize that when the time comes that they might be the one in need.
There tends to be a circle in life. Some times your the helper and the filler. And some times you get to chill. Then comes the bad times when your the one who needs the help. This circle keeps going round and round.
So it might be a case of kicking someone when they are all ready down. A person who was there when the job need them. I do not blame them when it's the job that fails to keep enough staff on hand to call.
Fired, no. But it might be a time to reassess their job. What is at issue? Do they need more time off, then move them to part time. Would they rather work as needed? Do they need to do light duty? The goal is to make sure the shift is covered, without worrying about a call in. They shouldn't be put in a situation to lie. Andshould be made to feel as if it is an attempt to help, not shame.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Constantly calling in on your weekend, calling in beyond what you have PTO for, etc. I think should be grounds for discipline.
Calling in when your wife is in the hospital like in this situation? That's disgusting. Does he qualify for FMLA? If so I would think he might be able to dispute the termination (although personally I wouldn't want to work somewhere where I'm that valued ). He should have 12 weeks of job protection to care for a family member. I know men are able to take it following the birth of a child even though HE didn't give birth, so can't see why not for a hospitalized wife.
I live in a glass house. When I got cancer, my husband was with me for every test, treatment, appointment, surgery and hospitalization. He applied for and got FMLA, and he worked weekend nights so he'd have more time off during the week. I recovered within six months. Supposed I hadn't, though. Keeping an employee on the books when you know they're not going to be there is prohibitively costly for some small businesses and for some nursing unit budgets. I am grateful that the large hospital we work for was able to grant DH's FMLA, but I understand that some employers are not in a position to do so.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I think it's interesting that peope seem to know when someone is calling in for "BS reasons." How do you know? Do they tell you?
People who often call out for BS reasons aren't above advertising it: pictures of Facebook of them climbing mountains when they supposedly have a debilitating back injury, pictures of them at a party posted at the same time their shift started. Even in the "old days", people would brag about the great time they had last night when you knew they had called out sick. Three people called out sick for a colleague's wedding years ago, one which the manager attended. One even caught the bouquet. Yet they were surprised when they were disciplined!
If you have a chronic illness 1) you would be smart to get FMLA to cover yourself. There is intermittent which covers people who have frequent call offs. 2) I think it is harder to get staff coverage for intermittent and is easier for management if you just took three months at one time. We usually mandate if someone calls in and they are not able to find other staff. Rarely we work short, usually if a CNA calls in. 3) There are a couple coworkers who have medical leave and it is frustrating when they are scheduled because you never know if they will actually come in or take off and leave you short! Nobody likes working short!
1) One can't just "get" FMLA. If the employer is too small or the employee hasn't worked long enough for the employer, there is no FMLA.
2) Unfortunately, cancer and other devastating conditions/illnesses don't care about making your management more comfortable. Chronic illness and its treatments often require many episodes of treatment that are not conveniently spaced within 3 months. Hard to understand, I realize.
3) Those darn cancer patients! Just when you think you've got a shift covered, someone goes and gets sick from that day's chemo treatment. The nerve!
Whew! Got that off my chest. Soooo glad that you are not on my "management" team. Talk about dysfunction.
Specializes in LTC,Hospice/palliative care,acute care.
According to the OP, this guy called off for BS reasons in addition to his wife's health problems. Sounds to me like he burned up whatever compassion would normally have come his way by abusing the ability to call off. That's why people should be careful.
I don't think there was any evidence presented that the man did anything less than a good job with the company. Simply they are small enough that they don't have to comply with FMLA! Sounds like the oral surgeon that laid off his assistant when she told him she had cancer. Real nice! Oh but he really had her best interests at heart, according to him, it was so she could get unemployment. Get real! Unemployment doesn't begin to make up for a salary. Unemployment is bare bones, in my state it wouldn't even pay my monthly mortgage, let alone all the other bills!
The story about the oral surgeon got blown way out of proportion-check the facts.She was physically UNABLE to work,did not quailfiy for FMLA. He "laid her off" to ENABLE HER TO COLLECT UNEMPLOYMENT-he did her a favor. Unemployment is better than nothing when you are undergoing cancer tx and can't work.
). He should have 12 weeks of job protection to care for a family member. I know men are able to take it following the birth of a child even though HE didn't give birth, so can't see why not for a hospitalized wife.
Stephalump
2,723 Posts
Most white collar professions don't deal with the staffing considerations that hospitals do.
My brother works in oil and gas and if he doesn't go into work he just catches up on his work when he gets back. No one has to be called in to cover him unless he has a meeting. Worse case scenario, the meeting is just rescheduled.
He would absolutely be fired for excessive absenteeism, but the effects of not coming to work aren't immediate so there's more leeway.
I do agree with your overall point, though. I'm struggling with the childish rules put on me at work when I'm a college graduate and a professional. We have a "points" system for calling in. Our meeting room doors are locked 1 minute after briefing starts in the morning so we miss it if we're late. We don't have a coffee pot because people "won't take care of it." We aren't even allowed to bring cell phones into the building. For someone that's supposed to be autonomous, I sure feel like I'm back in high school working at the movie theatre