contract states scheldule...

[amberdouglas]

I'm in my 3rd week of a 13 week assignment. i had specified in my contract that I have 36 hours a week, that my scheldule is blocked (i go home after i work) and that i got the 10th and the 11th of july off for my husband and my son's birthdays. The scheldule for july was posted monday and the Nurse manager scehlduled me for 48 hrs a week ( i don't do), and she had me down for the 10th. I told her this was wrong, she said she woulfd"fix it". she changed it to 36 hrs a week and gave me the 10th off, but she spilt my days up so that i'm on one day off the next on for two more...you get the point right? Well, I brought it to her attention agian that this was not what was in my contract. She informed me that she never read my contract and that if she had known that this is what it said she would never have hired me. Then she pretty much told me that she wouldn't make any concessions on how she made out the scheldule, that that was the only way to provide safe patient care and I had to abide by it. Obviously, this is not acceptable. Since the hospital is breaking my contract do they have to pay me for the value of the remaining weeks, or will i have to sue for them? If I refused to come in and work for just one day, can they say that I have violated my contract with them? This hospital is University of Mississippi medical center in jackson, MS just so other people will know to beware.

[AmandaWIRN]

If everything you said is stated that way in your contract, then you should be able to cancel your contract with the hospital withou penalty, but if you do, the hospital is not required to pay you for the remaining weeks of your contract. Most travel contracts allow hospitals to cancel travelers at any time for any reason (just like regular staff can be let go at any time...). I think trying to sue for that money would be a losing battle.

You need to decide if this issue is important enough to you to quit, of if you are willing to work one week of un-blocked days to get the days off you wanted. If you quit, be prepared to vacate your housing within 48 hours (if you are in company housing), and be prepared to start looking for a new assignment, and possibly a new travel company....

It sounds like the nurse manager was willing to try to re-arrange things somewhat so you could have off for the days you wanted. If that means working a few days of un-blocked shifts, that doesn't seem like that big of a deal.

[amberdouglas]

Having blocked days is a big deal to me though. thats why I had it stated in my contract that I had to have them. I don't stay in company housing, I stay in a hotel for my three days, then I go home until I have to come back agian. The 2 days off I requested were also stated in my contract, as well as how many hours a week my contract was for. I make it well stated that I don't do overtime. I don't care to work weekends or even holidays, but mu son's fifth birthday and my husband birthday are important to me. I didn't even request MY own birthday off. I don't think my requests are unreasonable, and if she thinks that they are then she shouldn't have agreed to hire me, but like I said, she didn't even bother to read my contract. I don't want to terminate my contract becasue my company gives completion bonuses at the end of every contract that I want, and I don't want to be off assignment even for 1 week. I'm going to call my recuiter in the AM and tell her whats going on, and I know she'll step up to the plate for me. I just wish there was a simple way to resolve this without it making me look bad or putting out of work for any amount of time.

[amberdouglas]

One other thing, it wasn't just one week that she unblocked my schedule, it was for the entire month of July. For 4 weeks she has me down coming in one day, being off two, coming in 2, being off one...if you were to look at you there is no way it could be conceived as anything but pure malice the way she did it, because it doesn't cover staffing issues and needs any better than if she had just blocked my schedule. It doesn't close up any holes in the schedule at all.

[imported_tn_nurse]

I had an issue regarding scheduling as well. My contract stated a certain thing but they were not abiding by the contract. I spoke with my recruiter, who then spoke with her manager, who spoke with the hospital and it was taken care of. My recruiter stated that if it is in the contract and they agreed to the contract, then they have to abide by it. The hospital can cancel your contract and not pay you but they still have to pay the travel company for breaking the contract. Talk with your recruiter and have them handle this for you. That is what they are there for.

[amberdouglas]

well, here's what has happened so far. I called my recruiter friday morning and told her what was going on. She assured me that it was not an issue, that they would have everything resolved. Well, she called me agian this afternoon to tell me that they got a response from the nurse manager. Her response was to fax her a copy of the scheldule and tell Jan (my recruiter), that this was the scheldule I had personally reequested from her and that she had went out of her way to accomadate my requests even though it was with such a short notice. Now, obviously, I DID NOT request to have my scheldule unblocked. I don't know where this could possibly be coming from! So, I told Jan that this was not the case, and she said she would call her back and have the issue cleared up. I don't know what to do.
One part of me thinks that this woman is being obstinate on purpose, just to try and get me to end my contract early with them. Another part of me wants to believe that its just a series of misunderstandings.
I go back in tommorow night 7p to 7a, and I should hear from my rcruiter tommorow before I get there.
I just don't see how so few things that were agreed on in advance that are in black and white could be so difficult to oblige. I have never had a problem like this before. I'm truly at a loss as what to do, other than just let my company handle it and hope for the best. And hope the next 10 weeks of my life are not misrable.

[AmandaWIRN]

If the schedule the nurse manager has given you goes against what is in your contract, and it really doesn't work for you, then just let your recruiter deal with it. If he/she is really a good recruiter, they will make sure that the hospital is abiding by everything that was stipulated in your contract.

[Kdog]

Sometimes I wonder about contracts on the hospitals end. I too hadbreach of contract but my company did not care. My contract was for 12 hour day/note rotation. Well, to me and most people that means an equal share. WEll, my schedule was for 8 weeks nites... So, I spoke with the nurse manager and she said she did not have any thing else except nites... AND she never even talked to me about it...to expain her needs. SO I called the company,,,my recruiter said, it was wrong and there was not much I could do about it...well this is not TRUE....I felt taken advantge of and will never do it again..I ended up being cancelled for some nonsense....probably becasuse I stood up for myself.
So make them abide by your contract. If you get cancelled , oh well.

[amberdouglas]

A follow up...
My agency tried for almost a week to get in touch with the nurse manager, she did not return any of their calls (5-6 a day). They called the Nursing Supervisor who told her to call my agency back. She finally did. They explained to her that my schedule is stipulated in my contract and she has to abide by it. she says okay, she'll look at it and get back to them. 3 days later she emails them a letter saying she'll fix it for this week (which puts me working straight through from tonight to wed of next week, because she put me at the end of this week and the beginning of next week-but thats tolerable). She also states in her letter that she can't do it all the time. That sometimes my schedule is just going to have to be unblocked. My agency contacted their legal dept. who told them that until she actually does violate my contract theres nothing they can do about it. They still have to give her the opportunity to fix it. so, for the third week of the month she's got me down right now coming in one day, being off two, and then coming in for two. NOT ACCEPTABLE. But, right now I can't do anything about it. My recruiter told me she has never seen anything like this before. This womans whole reasoning for not abiding by the terms of my contract are, once again, she never read it. My recruiter told her thats her problem. That just because she failed to read a legally binding document doesn't make it any less binding. Her response was to say that she'll have to "look at it and see what she can do." And the hospital has started having put in the contracts a stipulation that states no blocked schedules. So, that pretty much tells me that they understand what the terms of a contract are, they just think that they are exempt from having to follow them. My recruiter and the marketer have spent hours trying to deal with this, and this woman just acts like she can do just whatever she wants to. I would have never thought anyone would act the way she is. It blows my mind to think that a college educated professional person would do this. If she couldn't accommodate the few stipulations I made in my contract she should never have agreed to it, and not reading it is not an excuse! Its proof of a nonprofessional approach to her job.
Here's the best part. After she finally agreed to change my schedule for this week I talked to her on the phone about what my schedule was going to be, and she brought up that she wanted to talk to me about my charting. Okay, I am a meticulous charter-I over chart all the time because I am going to protect my butt no matter what. She said she did chart audits on my charts and found that one of my patients last week had an admission form missing. Well, last week I had the same patients all week, I did not admit or discharge anyone and I told her this. She informed me that as the nurse caring for this specific patient it was my responsibility to make sure that all the paperwork had been done. I asked her how many other people were being held responsible for the missing form (patient had been in the hospital for 2 weeks at this point), she said only me. why? Just because I should have done a better chart check. what about the other nurses' chart checks? Well, were not talking about them, just me. and then she said I documented (vital signs, which were already documented in two other places) on a epidural flow sheet form incorrectly. Now, if thats all she can find fault with in my charting, isn't that reaching a whole lot?

[AmandaWIRN]

I can pretty much guarantee that they are probably looking for a reason to cancel your contract & put the blame on you so they won't have to pay any financial penalties to your travel company for breaking your contract with the whole scheduling thing... It sucks that that's how they're handling it, but it appears that that's what's happening. Just keep charting to cover your butt.....