I was suspended at work for an error. Initially I thought I was fired. In fact I feel my employer may have kept me in the dark in order to be intentionally disrespectful. Right now I am waiting for the facility to schedule a time with me to come in and discuss the incident, but my boss is being very flaky with me in getting a time set. If you're curious about the circumstances you can read about them here (though it is irrelevant):
My question is this: what happens if I resign while suspended? I have no interest in remaining at the job at this point; the culture of the place is terrible and there are too many problems there for me to feel comfortable working there. I am thinking about sending a letter of resignation (I have been commuting 2.5 to 3.5 hours a day at this job so I am not keen on driving there for a one minute conversation.) I would ask it to be effective immediately, and if they accepted I could just take a job elsewhere immediately. My fear is that this might create negative job history for me, especially if they twist the details of my departure. For example, if HR from my dream job calls them six months from now they might say, "Oh he didn't quit. We fired him," or "He just quit because we were in the process of firing him."
Alternatively, I could drive there, resume working there, and give two-weeks notice on my first day back. If I did something like that, they might get irritated and fire me out of spite.
I can see a number of ways this could turn into a spiteful, "You can't quit, you're fired!" scenario. Also, it's possible they intend to fire me anyway, in which case my resignation could be construed as, "You can't fire me, I quit!"
Specializes in Trauma-Surgical, Case Management, Clinic.
I would give a letter of resigation with a 2 week notice. At my facility everytime someone has been suspended, by the time the manager or HR finally calls them to come in it's to terminate them. Seems like they have to investigate first, get their paper trail together before they fire you.
Specializes in Critical Care; Cardiac; Professional Development.
If you have been suspended and want to resign, why not be looking for work with the time your suspension has provided? Then you resign because you are going elsewhere, nobody is checking that reference (theoretically) because you are still actively employed there and you already have something to step into instead of waiting.
Also keep in mind that it is illegal for a previous employer to say you were fired or give any reason for why you no longer work there. They can only give your dates of employment and your position to a prospective emplyer. The only way a new employer can get more information from a previous employer is if you use them as a reference because in that case you are asking the old employer to talk about you to the new employer. So just list the job as a previous place of employment, but dont anyone there as a reference.
I wish that folks would stop perpetuating this urban legend. It is absolutely not true.
As others have mentioned... Legal or not is irrelevant. HR staff have "off of the record" conversations all of the time. Not to mention one of the HR reps at a previous employer may work at the facility you are trying to obtain a job at. Your history follows you.
As others have mentioned... Legal or not is irrelevant. HR staff have "off of the record" conversations all of the time. Not to mention one of the HR reps at a previous employer may work at the facility you are trying to obtain a job at. Your history follows you.
100% agree. Many times, HR staff may know each other in some form or another or have enough of a rapport that these "off the record" conversations help make a decision about a candidate.
In the middle of a job interview one time, I was made privy to what was circulating in the community about my former Director of Nurses. Scared the bejeezus out of me at the time and I have never forgotten.
The only issue is if you resign you probably won't be eligible for unemployment, where as if they fire you chances are you would qualify for unemployment. If they contested that you could always appeal as it was an accidental mistake. If you feel you can find other employment and don't want to stay there then go ahead now and make other arrangements while you are off work. Then tell them you are resigning.
I don't know the specifics, but when someone makes a mistake like a drug error, the hospital may suspend them and they are usually doing that to cover themselves in case of a lawsuit to make it look better if the patient files a claim. But a suspension does not automatically mean a nurse is fired. I'm sure there are quite a few nurses if they spoke up who have been suspended, but were not fired. It was to send a message and usually if the error is serious and resulted in or could have resulted in patient harm. I was suspended once when I was a new nurse because I made a med error dealing with an old fashion med that used a dropper and I didn't realize that and gave too much. Of course the patient didn't tell me that till after she drank it, why I don't know. At first the Dr wasn't concerned, but I was, so I pursued it and finally the Dr transferred patient to the ICU and the ICU Dr flushed her with a lot of IV fluids. The concern was a high potassium level and due to the ICU Dr's treatment and my quick thinking to not just let it go, her K level was actually a little on the low side when checked. The patient ended up being fine, but I was suspended. It was pretty scary and of course I felt terrible. But still glad I spoke up and made sure the patient was ok. If I had gone along with the primary and her K had gone too high or something bad happened I don't know how I would live with myself. I've never seen that drug used ever since.
I did a google search on what employers can say about formers employees. The best article I found (don't know if I can post a link), stated they can say why you no longer work there, they have to be truthful and give facts only, but, it went on to say most do not for fear of lawsuits (slander, libel) and only give dates of employment and if they would hire you back. It also said states are different in their laws.
Specializes in Psych, Addictions, SOL (Student of Life).
As others have mentioned... Legal or not is irrelevant. HR staff have "off of the record" conversations all of the time. Not to mention one of the HR reps at a previous employer may work at the facility you are trying to obtain a job at. Your history follows you.
I have two attorneys in my family and one of them practices employment law in California. She told me that Federal Law prohibits your current employer from saying anything about you except dats of employment unless you give them express permission to do so. That's why there is that little box that says may we contact this employer. I always check no. I have not been fired except for reduction in force at will but I checked no and wrote prefer to discuss in person. When asked during the interview I told them the job was no longer a good fit and that we had differences of opinion with regard to the direction the company was taking. As far as I know they never contacted them because they were doing a background check that confirmed all my jobs in one shot.
I also go over any job descriptions with my lawyer before signing.
Since we are now dealing in what friends and relatives say about this issue, I will contribute this from a job search website:
"Currently, there is no law that states that employers are only allowed to confirm your employment and what your start and end dates were. I. No company wants to deal with a lawsuit or get themselves into a potentially sticky situation, so they say very little in order to stay safe.
That doesn't mean that they won't say something though. It's really up to the employer. If you worked at a large company that had an HR department, then the company probably has a written policy on how they handle reference calls. It's important to remember that this is simply the company's rules and not the law. If you work at a smaller company, then chances are there is no policy on how to handle this situation. That is why you should check in with your former employer about how they handle this. "
**From a 2nd job search website (emphasis mine):
What Can Be Said
Your previous employer is legally allowed to answer questions from a prospective employer who is considering hiring you. For instance, the former employer can speak of your work ethics, attendance habits, job skill, personality and character. He can also disclose the reason you are no longer employed with the company. One main question a prospective employer will ask is whether or not you are eligible for rehire. If the former employer says No,†it may influence the prospective employer's decision.
What Can't Be Said
Anything the former employer says about you must be true and accurate. It is illegal for him to make false accusations about your character and work history. This can be comforting to know, especially if he has a personal vendetta against you. Although employers are free to say anything about you, many are reluctant to do so for fear of being confronted with a disparagement lawsuit. To protect themselves, many companies have a policy in place that allows them to confirm only your dates of employment, job title and salary history.
**From Legalmatch.com (emphasis mine):
"2) Information Must Be Accurate. A former employer also cannot lie or make defamatory statements about you in order to deter your current employer from giving you the job. That means that all the information given by the former employer should not only be job-related, it must also accurately represent your work performance.
What If the Reference Is Negative?
Your former employer is allowed to put any truthful information about your work performance at your previous job, whether it is positive or negative. Your former employer can also refuse to answer any questions asked by your new employer on the job reference form. This may be damaging when compared with a reference by another job candidate in which the former employer gave positive answers to those questions neglected by your former employer.
However a former employer chooses to answer your job reference, it must be in accordance with a fairly uniform policy used with all other former employee job references. An employer should only refuse to answer certain questions related to an employee recommendation if the employer never answers those same questions on any job recommendation form.
CrunchRN, ADN, RN
4,556 Posts
Give notice if you can. Otherwise it tends to bite you in the butt later.