does walking off the job = abandonment?

[RNDreamer]

Hello ladies and gents:

Below is a recent articles about some nursing who walked off their jobs. I was curious to hear from nurses about what your feelings are. Did they neglect their patients or did they do the right thing by leaving due to poor working conditions? Please note that the same day these nurses quit, nurses in other facilities quit, but were not charged

__________

Ten nurses who abruptly resigned from their jobs last year at a Smithtown nursing center were charged yesterday - along with an attorney who advised them - with endangering children.

The nurses who work for Avalon Gardens Rehabilitation and Health Center were accused of endangering six children ranging in age from 2 to 7 - four were on ventilators, one was on oxygen support and another was terminally ill - when they abandoned their posts April 7 at the end of their shifts, said Suffolk County assistant district attorney Leonard Lato.

"You cannot walk out on disabled children who have nobody to call," Lato said. "Whatever their dispute, they could have said they intended to walk out in 24 hours. "

The nurses' sudden departure, he said, left the center scrambling for replacements on a Friday evening. The action was spurred, their current attorney said, by complaints about pay and hours.

The nurses were Philippine citizens who worked for Sentosa Care, a group of nursing facilities located throughout New York. The affiliated Sentosa Recruitment Agency recruits nurses from the Philippines for permanent employment in the U.S.

Felix Vinluan, 42, of Westbury, is the attorney accused of advising the nurses to resign.

All 11 were charged with sixth-degree conspiracy, five counts of endangering the welfare of a child and six counts of endangering the welfare of a physically disabled person - all misdemeanors. Vinluan also was charged with fifth-degree criminal solicitation, a misdemeanor.

All pleaded not guilty in Suffolk County Court in Riverhead and were released. If convicted, they could face up to six years in prison and deportation.

"There is no crime," said the nurses' attorney, James Druker, of Garden City. "Nobody was endangered. "

The nurses, who had been on the job a few months to two years, were recruited from the Philippines. They had a three-year commitment to Sentosa Care, and because they broke their contracts when they left, the nurses were liable for $25,000, the indictment said.

"They just wanted out," Druker said. "They didn't leave for better jobs; they were just tired of broken promises. "

The nurses, he said, were not allowed to work the shifts they were promised, were not given a night differential and were not being paid for overtime.

Vinluan, the attorney who advised the nurses, was just doing his job, said his attorney, Oscar Michelen, of Mineola. "[Vinluan] only advised them of what their legal rights were under the law," Michelen said. "The contract allowed them to leave. "

The indictment says the same day the 10 nurses resigned, two nurses from Split Rock Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in the Bronx and two nurses from Bayview Nursing and Rehabilitation Center in Island Park had also resigned; the day before, 10 nurses from Brookhaven Rehabilitation and Health Care Center in Far Rockaway had resigned. All are owned by Sentosa Care. Those nurses were not charged.

Staff writer Eden Laiken contributed to this story.

Accused of abandoning patients

All 11 were charged with:

1 count of sixth-degree conspiracy;

5 counts of endangering the welfare of a child;

6 counts of endangering the welfare of a disabled person

[gitterbug]

Sounds messy, espensive, and scary. Hope this is resolved in an equatible manner for the nurses. Overtime and shift diffs add up too.

[GingerSue]

what are resignation requirements?

Michelen and Vinluan advised them of what their rights are - so - what are their rights? Michelen said that their contract allowed them to leave.

did staff come on after their shifts ended?

are other staff available?

did Sentosa make efforts to arrange for replacement staff? If Sentosa did not make efforts to arrange for staff {assuming that staff from somewhere are available}, then Sentosa is just as responsible for abandoning the patients.

did these staff who walked off have reason to leave? or could they have given 2 weeks notice?

[RNOTODAY, BSN, RN]

Well, whether or not these people can be sucessfully prosecuted or not, here is my opinion...... They finished their shifts, they didnt walk out in the middle of one, so, I , personally dont see the problem. I mean, yeah, it sucks for the facility, but, isnt that the facilities problem ? They have agencies for emergencies like this!!!I mean, what if one person just quit, would they press charges against that one person? Of course not, so why would they do so for all 11? Regardless of whether they "conspired", or not. They broke a contract, period, end of story. Its just dramatic because 11 people did it at the same time...The biggest question comes to my mind, though, is: Now that a facility's /agency's biggest nightmare has come true, do you think they will change the working conditions that forced this mass exodus in the first place? Hmmmmmmmmmmm.............

[dragonflyRN]

I was under the impression that you could only be charged with abandonment if you left your job midshift without reporting off to someone. That would be true abandonment. There is not a law, that i know of, that requires any type of notice to resign from a job. The employer's would like a 2 week notice, but it's not legally required. Did these nurses really "abandon" their patients, or did a group of them decide to resign at the same time?

[Elvish, BSN, DNP, RN, NP]

The only thing I thought was the case if you walked off is that you were ineligible for rehire since you didn't work a 2-week (or 30-day, whatever the case) notice. Maybe this depends on what state you're in. Seems to me that if things are bad enough for you to walk off at the end of your shift, you probably don't care about going back there later on anyway.

If the contract that these nurses signed clearly promises something that they didn't receive, I don't see where the facility has a leg to stand on. I, like most everyone else, thought abandonment was defined as leaving your patients w/o giving report & handing over care.

[sasparilla]

If those nurses were at the end of their shift, weren't there already other nurses present to take over for the next shift? Did they leave before anyone else showed up or were they being forced to work beyond their scheduled shift? There's got to be more to this story, otherwise I can't see how they abandoned their patients. The facility surely had other staff where getting ready to begin the next shift.

It sounds, as is, like they broke their contract and that's all.

[Pertlvn03]

Do you think US nurses wait 2 years for this nursing abuse? I don't think so. Professional white slavery in my opinion. Why? They recruit you with promises then when you arrived here, a horible working condition. You try to complaint but since you are petitioned by the sponsor's they think they own you. End of their shift and also their lawyer told them to quit. So I think no abandonment here. Just a group of people reaching a critical boiling point. It will be interesting to follow the development of this case. I hope the poster can supply the link to this story. Just my 2 cents. :)

[OC_An Khe]

I just don't see patient abandonment here. Are we missing some key facts? And why was the lawyer also charged? Something doesn't add up.

[GingerSue]

http://www.newsday.com/news/local/longisland/ny-linurs0323,0,4790079.story?coll=ny-sports-headlines

here's the link

{and you can post a comment re: the article when you read the article}

[Sheri257]

In my California nursing program we were taught that you either have to declare the assignment unsafe or, declare yourself unsafe and then give them four hours notice to remedy the situation. We were taught that our board of nursing considers four hours reasonable notice. You can't just walk away without giving that four hours notice.

An unsafe situation would be when they give you too many high acuity patients or, when they're trying to make you work a double when you're already exhausted after working a 12 hour shift.

In either case, our instructors told us to document the unsafe situation, file an incident report and, give management notice in writing that they have four hours to remedy the situation.

If they don't remedy the problem in four hours (like finding replacements, additional staff, etc.) then, you're no longer obligated to stay and won't be charged with patient abandonment.

:typing

[Sheri257]

They finished their shifts, they didnt walk out in the middle of one, so, I , personally dont see the problem. I mean, yeah, it sucks for the facility, but, isnt that the facilities problem ? They have agencies for emergencies like this!!!

The BRN in my state does recognize this problem, which is why they have a compromise solution which also protects the patients.

Yes, understaffing is ultimately management's problem. But, at the same time, it's not necessarily management's fault if somebody doesn't show up when they are scheduled to work the next shift to relieve you. What if your replacement doesn't show up because they got in a car wreck or something that couldn't be helped?

So ... this is why the BRN in my state requires that you give four hours notice so management does have a chance to call in emergency staff, registry or whatever. If management fails to find a replacement after that four hours, then it's no longer your problem, it is management's problem.

If 10 people apparently did this all at the same time with no notice, creating a situation where management couldn't find replacements with that many walkouts, that may be the problem here.

:typing