terminated and can't get another position (long)

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Hey guys, I need some advice. But I have to give you the story which is a little long; Sorry.

I graduated from nursing school in 2004. Started in ER and transferred to ICU after 6 months. No biggy. Things going okay, or so I thought.

Early this year, made my charge nurse ( who pretended to be my friend) mad. She goes to NM and says that I am not doing my job. This rocks on for a couple of months. Then in April, I get called into office and told that this nurse has told NM that I refused to put O2 on my pt., refused to take a psych pt. and got a pt out of bed that was not supposed to be out of bed.

Now, I realize that there will be those of you that are thinking "yea, right,", but as GOD is my witness, these things are all lies. Needless to say, I was not giiven the opportunity to face my accuser. I am involuntarily terminated. I have sent numerous apps and resume to every hospital in my area, to no avail.

I have also spoke with the state's employment legal service and was told that I have no recourse against this NM, because I was terminated in good faith.

I simply don't know what else to do. Every job that I go out on will not accept me telling them to speak with the HR dept. They want to know who my NM was and can they speak to her. Is my nursing career over. I have even started looking into traveling, althought I am not sure I am qualified for that either.

Thanks in advance.

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Specializes in Peds Cardiology,Peds Neuro,Pedi ER,PICU, IV Jedi.

:uhoh21: I'm so sorry this has happened to you!!! Do yourself a favor and contact an attorney who can act legally on your behalf. Perhaps you can contact your manager/coworkers in the ER and have someone bear witness to the kind of nurse you were there, along with someone from the ICU.

And I'm confused about the "firing in good faith"..what the hell is that??

Nothing done in good faith ends in termination.

But it just goes to show you...sh*t floats to the top.

Hey guys, I need some advice. But I have to give you the story which is a little long; Sorry.

I graduated from nursing school in 2004. Started in ER and transferred to ICU after 6 months. No biggy. Things going okay, or so I thought.

Early this year, made my charge nurse ( who pretended to be my friend) mad. She goes to NM and says that I am not doing my job. This rocks on for a couple of months. Then in April, I get called into office and told that this nurse has told NM that I refused to put O2 on my pt., refused to take a psych pt. and got a pt out of bed that was not supposed to be out of bed.

Now, I realize that there will be those of you that are thinking "yea, right,", but as GOD is my witness, these things are all lies. Needless to say, I was not giiven the opportunity to face my accuser. I am involuntarily terminated. I have sent numerous apps and resume to every hospital in my area, to no avail.

I have also spoke with the state's employment legal service and was told that I have no recourse against this NM, because I was terminated in good faith.

I simply don't know what else to do. Every job that I go out on will not accept me telling them to speak with the HR dept. They want to know who my NM was and can they speak to her. Is my nursing career over. I have even started looking into traveling, althought I am not sure I am qualified for that either.

Thanks in advance.

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Is there someone else from your original job whom you can use as a reference, someone who knows the type of nurse you truly were? I think that if you could honestly talk with someone in the HR department of the places where you are applying then you could make a favorable enough impression for them to at least give you a chance. I'm sorry you are going through this, but this too shall pass.

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Specializes in Nursing Professional Development.

The bottom line is that you need legal advice, not nursing advice. Few good hospitals will hire you if your previous employer is saying bad things about you. You'll probably need to get a lawyer to fight your previous employer.

Good luck to you,

llg

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WOW! I am sorry that this has happened to you! I do agree with others in re: to obtaining legal counsel. You have put alot of time,.....money & hard work into your carreer! I truly understand. I have had experiences with those who try to block employment opportunities. I had left one nursing home where I worked at for many years because of the way they were trying to force me to "cut corners" which were not normal practice & was on the fence in re: to being legal! I had tried to go to work at a sister nursing home a few months later & my previous supervisor tried to prevent me from being hired because she had something against me. I was told by a really good friend that one reason this super was doing this was because I was an excellent nurse & she(super) was scared I was wanting HER job! HA! :idea: You could NOT pay me enough to do her job! Anyway,......I was hired in spite of all her actions! A funny twist to this story: after I had left the previous NH,...they ried to get me to come back & teach the CNA classes in which I was trained to do before & had done so for awhile for the area nursing homes,....which were all owned by the smae company! Unfortunately,....we will always have to deal with people who are not honest :devil: & who are spiteful in the things they do! So many good nurses are scorned for being good at their jobs only because others are jealous! Stand your ground & fight for your carreer! Praying that this is straightened out in a positive way! Good luck!

Sorry this is sooooo long.

Also,....I am new here,.....& look forward to posting on other threads!

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Specializes in HH/LTC/WM.

Now I am from TX, didnt see that one coming did ya, anyways I have to hire people and field calls for references for other employers. I was told that I could never indulge on any reason that we could not re-hire a former employee, only that they could be rehired or not rehired. Know with that being said, I really dont know if that is company policy or if it is law. You may look into that with legal concil. Regardless of which it is, You could be smart and you or a friend call and act like a potential employer and record the conversation. Ask ? like where they dependable, why wont you hire this person back ect. If they are obviosly slandering you, well there you go, consult a lawyer with your new found info. This person may be slandering you. I would do this before you consult a lawyer though, because if they start getting hate mail from your lawyer, they may begin to start sending employers to your H.R.:pumpiron:

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I wouldn't recommend taping the conversation without permission.

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Specializes in Med Surg/Tele/ER.

Well bigtex...good idea. I know when I was in Mgmt. I was taught ....the only thing I could say about former employees was.....term of service, and if we would/would not re-hire period. But I can tell you from experience it is not very hard to get some employers to tell you more if you press the issue.

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Specializes in HH/LTC/WM.

True you could throw it into the intro like " This is i may be recording this conversation, Tonya from MGM. ya know kinda throw it in there mid sentence. Heck they would probably not even notice.;)

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Call your state board and see if the actions of your former boss are grounds for diciplinary action. Most practice acts address moral and profesional character. I would say this was violted in your case.They have to investigate any violations and that one deserves a day in front of the board. I suspect they have done this to others and maybe they will come forward.

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WOW I am shocked....We are unionized in Canada YOu can almost kill someone and still work....( I've seen it happen).

I hope you resolve this,I wish you the best...This story makes me afraid to move to the U.S tell me this is not the Norm!!!:troll:

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GA is a right to work state so no union. There are many ways to get around this quickly you have to be creative. Letters, another charge nurse and telling you soon to be manager the truth or shades of it. All you need to travel is 1 year experience one 13 wk. assignment would get you a good refrence. I have had similar problems with managers (mine was getting a second job she did not like that). So I had a friend who worked with me say he was one of the charge nurses and he was he gave me a great reffrence and I got the job. I also traveled and if you tell your agency they have ways of getting around it.

Good Luck:jester:

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