Unfair Shift Rotation

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Hello everyone. I have been reading discussion on this site for the past few years. Ive finally decided to come here to vent and get some advice. My manager asked me to work every Monday night on this schedule, while still doing two 7a-8p shifts. We do 13 hour shifts at my facility. She claims that the night nurses that she has can not work Monday nights. These nurses do not have young children, but just "prefer" not to work Monday night. I have a one year old child. I agreed to work the shift, but only be because she said I would work Monday night and then come back on a Thursday or Friday.

Well she didn't make the schedule out that way. She has working every wedensday morning. They only gives me one day off. I will sleep most of that day. I worked like this last week and was utterly exhausted and disoriented. When I asked her if I could have some time to thin about working Monday night she said no I have to get the schedule out. Then she stared going on about making it "mandatory". This manager also asks me to cover a night shift whenever she has a call out. She does not ask the other nurses. I've only been at this job a few months.

I feel like I'm being taken advantage of. What do you guys think? Should I suck it up or seek other employment? Sorry this is so disjointed! Your feedback is appreciate.

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Whether or not you have kids or they have kids doesn't matter. Is there a seniority component to this issue?

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My suggestion is to stay under the radar , keep a smile (but not too happy ) , hang in there , but look for another job. Go figure , who knows what politics are at work there. Check this out , right here at my hospital's ER the mangers will use the power of the shifts to get people out. Imagine , staggered shifts from Hell- examples: 1pm-1am , 3pm-3am , 12am-12pm , 1:30am-2pm or whatever sadistic shifts they can think of. Also, if you can , find another job inside your system because we all know this healthcare thing is almost two stops from a monopoly.

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It has nothing to do with seniority. Having a child does matter actually. Nurses without children do not have to worry about childcare and should be available to work any given night. I was hired for day shift and am being assigned a Monday night shift because of "preference" and not necessity.

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Thank you! I will continue to "grin and bear it" while I look for something else.

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It has nothing to do with seniority. Having a child does matter actually. Nurses without children do not have to worry about childcare and should be available to work any given night. I was hired for day shift and am being assigned a Monday night shift because of "preference" and not necessity.

Um, no. Nurses without children may have other obligations and are not at the beck and call of you and your child's scheduling needs.

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.
It has nothing to do with seniority. Having a child does matter actually. Nurses without children do not have to worry about childcare and should be available to work any given night. I was hired for day shift and am being assigned a Monday night shift because of "preference" and not necessity.

I disagree, and I have five children. Ages 3-14, the first being born while in nursing school.

You chose to have a child and a job. They chose not to or not yet, or they are an older parent who has put in their time but now their children are grown...or maybe they WANT to have a baby, but can't. It would add insult to injury for a woman with fertility problems or miscarriages, to give priority to the one with a child because she has a child, and give her a poop schedule because she has not.

That said, I think it's bad practice to schedule ANYONE -- mother or father or no -- for rotating shifts within one week, every week. Rotating shifts should be days for a few weeks, nights for a few weeks so that one's circadian rhythms don't get completely messed up.

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It has nothing to do with seniority. Having a child does matter actually. Nurses without children do not have to worry about childcare and should be available to work any given night. I was hired for day shift and am being assigned a Monday night shift because of "preference" and not necessity.

You cannot be serious!!! While I agree that being scheduled as you are is incompatible with life you lost all my sympathy with that statement.

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I should have explained what I meant better. I meant that aside from requested time off or a certain holiday, the NIGHT nurse should be able to work on a Monday. I would never refuse to work on a Monday if I knew that someone from day shift would be forced to rotate.

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IM NOT ASKING FOR PRIORITY! I was hired for DAY SHIFT. With no rotations mentioned what so ever. I'm asking for a fair schedule. The two night nurses should have been able to alternate working Mondays. I agreed to rotate only because I was promised two days off in between.

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I should have explained what I meant better. I meant that aside from requested time off or a certain holiday, the NIGHT nurse should be able to work on a Monday. I would never refuse to work on a Monday if I knew that someone from day shift would be forced to rotate.

What reason did they give for honoring the other employees' preferences, but not your own?

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Specializes in NICU, ICU, PICU, Academia.
It has nothing to do with seniority. Having a child does matter actually. Nurses without children do not have to worry about childcare and should be available to work any given night. I was hired for day shift and am being assigned a Monday night shift because of "preference" and not necessity.

You do NOT want to go there. Because you have no CLUE what other people's lives are like. Do not play the "I've got kids card"- it's irrelevant and makes you look like a special snowflake.

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