I am a patient care tech in a hospital in Alabama. I work night shift and on Monday around 5.30am I slept off for a moment and the charge nurse saw me. She reported me to the manager and I was called off work for two days. On third day I was asked to meet them at HR. This is my first offence since I started working there in March. Will this be a warning or outright sack? I work too hard and I really like my job.
Am going to meet them in about three hours and I don't know what to expect. HR means sack right? They dont issue warning letter I HR? Should I implicate other of my co workers because they all sleep at night shift even if is for ten seconds.
HR means my defense doesn't matter anymore,, anything to remedy this situation.
Just finished with the meeting with my manager and HR. I was terminated immediately. I have never had any write up or any disciplinary action against me, I agree to work when people bail, and for ten second of sleep by 5.30am when I have round up my shift, I was terminated.
I was asked to write a letter of appeal which I have done, I had no defence but a plea for them to look at my impeccable track record and reinstate me. Is a long short but am really tired . no warning, no suspension just immediate termination.
My only source of income, the only job I have enjoyed doing since after law school has just being taking away in a second.
I have other job interview next week but theybr an hour away from me. I may have to relocate cos where I stay have only two hospital and I want to work in a hospital.
Thank you all for listening, I didn't say anything about my co workers, i just bursted out in tears as they gave me my letter of termination.
Termination does seem harsh if your prior behavior was exemplary. However, I don't see how you can claim you were only asleep for "10 seconds." If you were actually asleep, your assessment of time would by definition be suspect.
Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
Just finished with the meeting with my manager and HR. I was terminated immediately. I have never had any write up or any disciplinary action against me, I agree to work when people bail, and for ten second of sleep by 5.30am when I have round up my shift, I was terminated.
I was asked to write a letter of appeal which I have done, I had no defence but a plea for them to look at my impeccable track record and reinstate me. Is a long short but am really tired . no warning, no suspension just immediate termination.
My only source of income, the only job I have enjoyed doing since after law school has just being taking away in a second.
I have other job interview next week but theybr an hour away from me. I may have to relocate cos where I stay have only two hospital and I want to work in a hospital.
Thank you all for listening, I didn't say anything about my co workers, i just bursted out in tears as they gave me my letter of termination.
I'm sorry that you lost your job. Use this as an opportunity for some self examination. Please consider what SourLemon wrote . . . perhaps it will be helpful to you in future jobs.
awake. The fact that you were reported and are being treated so formally after one offense can be telling. Someone with a reputation for being agreeable and "on top of things" would typically have faults like this one overlooked (if a one-time thing). It's possible that one or more people see you as "lazy" or "disagreeable" and you just gave them the ammunition they needed to get rid of you.
My job differentiates between accidentally "dozing off" from sleeping on the job. They say that they understand that a person could nod off for a few seconds but, sleeping is different. Laying back and getting comfortable, covering up or laying your head down is a no no. I work in a group home though where some nights it's quiet with a lot of downtime so, really dozing off for more than a few seconds could be easy. I've worked nights for 12 years and I've seen most everyone I've worked with do the "head Bob" from time to time. The worst time for me is charting when I'm sleepy, I'll usually get up and walk around for a few minutes and get some steps in on my fitbit to get woke up. I'll usually clear my throat or put my coffee cup down loud if I see someone nodding and that usually knocks them out of it.
Horseshoe, BSN, RN
5,879 Posts
Termination does seem harsh if your prior behavior was exemplary. However, I don't see how you can claim you were only asleep for "10 seconds." If you were actually asleep, your assessment of time would by definition be suspect.