Should high absenteeism be cause to be fired?

[Emergent]

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?

[NurseQT]

Not only should each and every employee abide by the company's absence policy the EMPLOYER should have to aside by it as well! Two perfect examples: I received a written warning for my 5th absence two weeks later another employee only received a verbal warning after her 9th absence! She had a long history of calling in. I did not, that past year had been the exception because my husband was training out of state for three months and when two of our kids got sick (one with pink eye than the other with a stomach bug) I had no one to stay home with them. I had actually received perfect attendance bonuses before that year! The other example: I had a DON try to write me up for arriving 20 min late to work one morning. We were in the middle of a snow storm making the driving conditions terrible. I had called ahead of time to let them know I'd be late, the supervisor's response "just take your time and get here safe!" The ironic part was the DON didn't come in until after 1pm that day said she was going to wait until the roads were clear! And she lived much closer to the facility than me! HR threw the write up out because it didn't follow the policy in place and they didn't think it was right that I was being written up by someone who was 3 1/2 hours late to work herself!

Moral of the story: an absence policy should be the same for every employee across the board whether it be a housekeeper, floor nurse, or the administrator.

[casi, ASN, RN]

What bothers me most about these policies is you still get in trouble for illnesses picked up at work. Also when you are really sick a doctor's note, hospital discharge paperwork means NOTHING.

I had a fun complicated pregnancy which took place before I qualified for FMLA. Written up multiple times including the time I had to leave work in pre-term labor at 28 weeks.

[JenERally]

1) .

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.

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FMLA can be used by covered employees on a continuous, intermittent or even a combination of both for a total of 12 weeks over a 12 month period.

[roser13, ASN, RN]

FMLA can be used by covered employees on a continuous, intermittent or even a combination of both for a total of 12 weeks over a 12 month period.

Ummm, yes. Thus the point of my post.

[suanna]

It all comes back to professional respect. If you treat your professional staff like a bunch of teenage burger-flipping grill jockys, they are going to eventualy live down to that expectation. If you treat your professional staff like a vital and valued part of the health care team- they will call off when ill out of respect for patient/peer safety but you will rarely have a problem with out-of-control absenteeism. An agressive and punitive absenteeism policy is a great way of telling if a prospective employer considers its nursing staff to be burger flippers or valued professionals.

[joanna73, BSN, RN]

Not only should each and every employee abide by the company's absence policy the EMPLOYER should have to aside by it as well! Two perfect examples: I received a written warning for my 5th absence two weeks later another employee only received a verbal warning after her 9th absence! She had a long history of calling in. I did not, that past year had been the exception because my husband was training out of state for three months and when two of our kids got sick (one with pink eye than the other with a stomach bug) I had no one to stay home with them. I had actually received perfect attendance bonuses before that year! The other example: I had a DON try to write me up for arriving 20 min late to work one morning. We were in the middle of a snow storm making the driving conditions terrible. I had called ahead of time to let them know I'd be late, the supervisor's response "just take your time and get here safe!" The ironic part was the DON didn't come in until after 1pm that day said she was going to wait until the roads were clear! And she lived much closer to the facility than me! HR threw the write up out because it didn't follow the policy in place and they didn't think it was right that I was being written up by someone who was 3 1/2 hours late to work herself!

Moral of the story: an absence policy should be the same for every employee across the board whether it be a housekeeper, floor nurse, or the administrator.

Our policy applies to everyone, including managers so it's fair and when I'm doing attendance management I make sure the staff are aware. Also, while we have targets, it's the manager's discretion. Writing someone up for being late or absent due to a terrible snow storm is very unfair. I look for patterns, so it really depends.

[NicuGal, MSN, RN]

Ours goes thru HR, our managers have no say in anything. The hospital CEO determines if enough people were late due to weather to not give us late points.

Our policies apply to everyone.

[sistrmoon, BSN, RN]

What I love is we can have 200+ hours of paid time off accrued but are limited to 6 absences a year. Not saying you should take all that time but don't call it combined leave if what you really mean is you have 48 hours of sick time a year and the rest is vacation time you'll never take.

I was once warned I was approaching the limit while in the hospital for a D &C after the 2nd tri miscarriage of a very wanted baby. They asked if I was sure I needed to take both shifts off that weekend. Uhm, yes.

I don't know of anyone actually fired over it though. Know many have gone over the limit.

[sistrmoon, BSN, RN]

What bothers me most about these policies is you still get in trouble for illnesses picked up at work. Also when you are really sick a doctor's note, hospital discharge paperwork means NOTHING.

I had a fun complicated pregnancy which took place before I qualified for FMLA. Written up multiple times including the time I had to leave work in pre-term labor at 28 weeks.

I have never qualified for FMLA at my current job due to hours worked but there are alternative types of voluntary leave they have given me which still protected my job. I'm on a voluntary personal leave right now after surgery.

[kbrn2002, ADN, RN]

There should be policies in place for excessive absenteeism, but there should also be some leeway. I missed quite a bit of work caring for an ill family member and my job was very understanding and accommodated my needs without counting any of the time I took as an absence. Sure I qualified for FMLA, but I didn't get the FMLA paperwork from the corporate office until I was already back to work. My employer has done the same for a few of my co-workers that needed unexpected time off as well. That's a big part of the reason I stay with this employer, not every company would support their staff like that.

[liberated847]

My hospital just fired two people after they called off sick and were photographed at the Apple Store line waiting to buy the new iPhone 6 LMAO!!!!

[AOx1]

Many years ago, in the times of an ACTUAL shortage, when we actually received a pension and great benefits, my old employer had a great system. Sick time accrued at a lesser rate, but was more valuable. You could do one of three things with unused time at the end of the year, just before the holidays: donate it to a unit-based emergency sick time fund to cover those with severe health issues, donate the monetary equivalent to one of two local charities, or get the cash. You could also do a combination. We all loved it, but as nurses grew more plentiful, it went the way of the dinosaur. I do not remember call outs for nonsense reasons at that time. Knowing you had extra holiday money was a big incentive.