I have been working for a large hospital corporation for 7 months. Couple of weeks ago, I applied for a position at a different location (transfer). I talked to the recruiter and asked if I should first tell my manager. She left it up to me. Since my manager was out of town, and thinking that it's a transfer within company, I told the HR agent to go ahead with the process. A few days later, when I saw my boss, and asked her if it'd be ok for me to pursuit a closer location to my home, she said policy allows a transfer after a year of employment (HR had told me it's up to boss's discression). Today, boss called me in, and showed me 4 evidences of mistakes that I had made. I did take the balme for one, but all together, I got the impression that I'm being punished for bailing out on her. She has given me the choice of resigning, or being let go.
My hospital will fight your "unemployment benefits" tooth and nail. Unfair, and I don't know why they do that, but I know 3 people who were fired from my facility during the past two years; they have all been fighting for unemployment, but none have received it. Just make sure you document everything, and sign nothing.
If its job within the same company but truly just a transfer you don't want to quit because you would be quitting the entire company right? I would also not want to be fired because that would be on your record, and if they fire you how will you transfer still? I would check all options first before making any type of decision.
My hospital will fight your "unemployment benefits" tooth and nail. Unfair, and I don't know why they do that, but I know 3 people who were fired from my facility during the past two years; they have all been fighting for unemployment, but none have received it. Just make sure you document everything, and sign nothing.
Employers do that because every time one of their employees gets unemployment, their insurance rate goes up a certain amount. They want to keep their costs as low as possible, so they'll fight the unemployment. Because it's insurance, just like your car insurance, if you file a claim against your insurance, eventually your insurance carrier will start increasing your premium to cover the loss.
I'm just going to play devils advocate here too for a minute. I think your manager is over the top for writing you up 4 times now since applying for the transfer, however I can see somwhat how she would be angry too. If hospital policy is that you need to be in your position for a year before you can transfer one can infer that by you agreeing to take the position that you committed yourself for a minimum of a year. Since you needed your managers blessing to bail in less than a year it would have been wise to wait and talk to her about it first. I certainly hope this thing gets ironed out in your favor, but i also hope that you learned something in the process. Yes the manager is over the top but you also aren't an innocent victim either. Either way, don't do anything without an attorney. Not doing so is penny wise and pound foolish.
Specializes in Management, Med/Surg, Clinical Trainer.
Let's look at this from the manager's point of view for a second. She goes on vacation and comes back. Upon her arrival she is told one of her RNs wants to leave, okay, doable AND she has already been to HR.
Sometimes people get excited and see a job and want to apply and do so. But I wonder could the application for the post waited 'a few days later' until the manager came back or was it closing? Managers like to be in the loop for many reasons, staffing patterns and helping to create a smooth transition from one floor to another are just a few.
This brings me to another point. It is standard practice, in any profession not just nursing, that if a person is going to transfer to another unit, floor or different part of the company the NM and Charge Nurse are asked for report on that person's skill set. Has the person had any errors? How many call outs? Any general concerns? Would that person be a good fit on the other floor?
This would have driven her to pull your files and check on performance. She needed something to report.
Sadly it sounds like there was at least one 'mistake' but this information was not given to you when it happened to give you the opportunity to correct the action moving forward and display that you learned from it. The other three....again when or if they happened it should have been brought to your attention. This is "I wasn't paying attention and when I need to pay attention ooops Gotcha' manager."
Specializes in Management, Med/Surg, Clinical Trainer.
You are in a large system. They have rules about terminating employees. Are you facing suspension, or termination? You are claiming both. A manager can't just fire someone on whim.
Option C. Contact HR
Agree. The real question is if she has enough evidence to terminate you based on the 'mistakes.' And since you found out about all 4 of these items at once, the chances are not high that a sufficient paper trail is in place.
I agree with the others go to HR and have a conversation but think about what you hope to gain from this. If the mistakes are documented the chances of transfer are low until you have cleared those matters. That would mean working with the current NM and education to get some training from the other staff nurses so you are ready for transfer at one year of employment.
This brings me to something else the time on the floor before transfer. In the post it said, "she said policy allows a transfer after a year of employment (HR had told me it's up to boss's discression)." I bet they are both true. The written policy is one year, but if there is a need and the NM agrees someone can transfer sooner. On the flip side, someone could be on the floor for years and still not ready for transfer.
Let me share a personal experience. I worked for a horrid place and left and went to a different system. The director at the new place promised me that staffing would be great, the coworkers were great etc etc.....well it was all lies. I found out that the avg nurse stayed on that unit about three months before leaving. Well in the interim I had met a new friend. she was the director at a different hospital within the same system and wanted me to come work for her.
Well I presented this idea to the director that I would be leaving and she was not inclined to let me go. The director at the new place had her HR guy call the other HR guy and before I knew it everything was signed sealed and delivered. Now the bridge to the other place is certainly burned but I dont care....if that were the only place to work I would simply leave nursing and go back to my previous career....
The moral of my story....see if the other facility will work in your favor on the back end of the deal......
May I ask another question....I'm unclear as far as the wording my boss used: she mentioned 'suspension' (not 'termination'). What is the difference, if any? Thanks.
KeepItRealRN, BSN, RN
379 Posts
^ This one ^
Do no sign anything or agree to anything without doing this.