Sick Time

jaimemds · Jul 21, 2006

management must follow facilty P&P, starting at step one. They cannot jump to termination. Management must also look at everyone for the amount of calloffs, because if they just go after her, it can be seen as favoritism. there may also be special circumstances that the rest of the staff is not privy to. Voice your concerns to your supervisor, and let them handle it from there.

banditrn · Jul 21, 2006

At the hospital where I worked, you could have 4 call-ins in 6 months, I think. After that you got counceled. Ultimately, after a certain process, they could fire you, but I can only think of a couple of times where people were actually fired for it.

On the other hand, I only worked part-time, so my supervisor thought that my time off should be used at her discretion. NOT!! I would pick up occasionally, but not often. We had a major nose-to-nose about it! :madface:

I don't know what the policy is at the LTC where I work now, but I do know we have to find our own replacement. I think I'd have to be bleeding out the ears before I'd call in there.

meownsmile, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2006

OH i think every facility has their "queen". My facility doesnt give us sick time. We can't even use personal time, it has to be pre-sceduled, and vacation time isnt an option because it has to be scheduled also. So if we're sick its off our backs. That doesnt however deter some from calling in everytime there is a shift they dont want to work or something going on they would rather go to.

My facility has really dropped the ball in applying their own rules about calling off. We have had a pretty strict policy about calling off, but since they havent been following up, there are some that are just completely out of hand. One begets another,, then another and they follow suit if there isnt any followup. It really is rediculous, if they dont want to be there quit.

TheCommuter, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2006

My workplace does not offer sick pay. Rather, any employee who has at least six months of service with the facility receives 12 days of PTO (paid time off) per year. Employees can use these PTO days as sick days, personal holidays, or however they please.

Once an individual runs out of the yearly allotment of PTO days, calling-in sick will simply result in an unpaid off day (and most people don't like a bunch of unpaid days since it equals a small paycheck).

santhony44, MSN, RN, NP · Jul 21, 2006

I once worked with one gal who called in sick every time she had eight hours accrue. You could see her look at the schedule and see the wheels turn!

We always knew that if she had 8 hours and we had enough staff, she would not be there.

Most facilities have policies which, if followed, can effectively get rid of this kind of employee.

Sure, people get sick, family members get sick, accidents happen, and so on. However, some people use any old excuse and it really is unfair to the regular staff who try to work if humanly possible. I think it also reflects a lack of consideration for your co-workers as well as your employer.

One facility also discouraged weekend call-ins by making you work an extra weekend to make it up. This was written facility policy and everyone knew that it was there and enforced. It did tend to work pretty well.

As a corollary, though, it makes no sense to have all these policies and then be unwilling to let staff work out some of their own staffing issues themselves. I've worked places where the schedule was "set in stone" once posted. It didn't matter if two nurses were perfectly willing to swap a shift with no one getting shorted hours and no one working overtime, sorry, you're stuck with the schedule as is. Things do come up. Most people I've worked with were willing to help each other out, as long as it was reciprocal. When I did management, I let the nurses know that I wanted the shifts covered, no one short hours, and no one accumulating large amounts of overtime; they were free to work things out among themselves, and they generally did just that.

BittyBabyGrower, MSN, RN · Jul 21, 2006

Where I work, we go on a point system...for each hour you are sick it is a point, at 120 points you are fired. As the day you called off comes around, you drop those points. FMLA doesn't count. We also have to make up weekends, intermittant FMLA gets rescheduled also.

I would look at your employee handbook, I am sure it has the guidelines, but it sounds like management may have dropped the ball on this one.

Pepper The Cat, BSN, RN · Jul 21, 2006

We do have policies - after 8 sick calls in a year you are suppossed to be "counselled" about your sick time. She's had meeting, after meeting, after meeting with mangement about her sick time. She'll improve for about 3 months, then start up again! Its been going on for at least 7 years now. I guess I'm venting more than anything! One manager said that you can't fire someone for being sick. Makes me wonder why I try so hard not to have sick time!

Squaw · Jul 21, 2006

At our system, you can have no more than 4 attendance irregularities (call outs, tardies or leaving early) in a 3 month period without a doctor's excuse before a counseling. But, being in our profession, I believe some live at the doctor's office. You can call in as many times as you want if you have an excuse. At that point, we will talk to you about changing your status to PRN to accommodate your illnesses.

Midwest4me · Jul 21, 2006

Hi Pepper----That's a WAY too frustrating situation to be dealing with for years! Our union protects us (or enables,depending on one's viewpoint) from repercussions when we use our allotted sick time every month(we get 8 sick hrs a month). It's sickening(no pun intended) to me how many of those I work with will use that 8 hrs every single month...and sometimes 2 days...conveniently on the end of a work week. Personally,I feel it's best to "stockpile" the sick time in the event I'm hurt and am afflicted with some serious illness and have to be off for 6 weeks or longer. After all, short-term disability only pays 60% of the salary--I'd rather have my sick time be used and hence get a regular paycheck if I'm off for extended periods---thus I may only use 1-2 days in a year, if that. Such ABUSE of sick time (and that's what you describe in your post) is a major pet peeve of mine. I agree with some others---check your P&P manual, perhaps re-think rearranging your schedule to accomodate her illnesses.

PANurseRN1 · Jul 21, 2006

I was wondering what other people's thoughts were in regarding to sick time. We have one nurse that has become the Queen of Sick Time. She seems to be off sick more that she works.She has allergies, she hurt her back, her kids are sick, her mother is sick, her babysitter is sick, she can't tell us why, but she just won't be in.. and so forth. I think she takes more sick time in one pay period (2 weeks) that most people take in a year! She hasn't worked yet in July - first because someone in her family "fainted" - she needed a week to take care of them, and now for a reason so stupid it has everyone rolling their eyes. (I would love to say it, but it is so unique that I'm worried someone from my job might see it and know I was talking about her).
This was been going on for years! I'm sure if they looked back, she has probably only worked 1/2 of her shifts - and that would be a generous estimation.
Frankly, I am getting tired of rearranging my schedule to help cover her sick time - she works only 1 shift, the hardest shift to cover. Often, I end up giving up my day shifts, which are easier to cover, to work her shift.
At what point can management just fire her sorry a** and get rid of her?:angryfire

Excuse me for being blunt, but you're angry with the wrong person. You should be mad at yourself for enabling this situation. Stop agreeing to give up your shift in order to cover. Put the onus on mgmt. to resolve the situation.

While we all have to be flexible from time to time, if you're doing this repeatedly, you're basically giving mgmt. freedom to treat you like a doormat.

PANurseRN1 · Jul 21, 2006

intermittant FMLA gets rescheduled also.

This is not legal. FMLA time is FMLA time, whether you take it consecutively or intermittently.