Unfair termination

geperry

New Member
Jurisdiction
North Carolina
I'm an RN in N.C. and I received an email yesterday from my floor manager that my employment is terminated. On February 12th I pulled an order for IV Ativan to give a patient. I had a witness waste the un-needed portion of the med with me (to do this, we prep the med in our handheld devices called PSS0, then, when we administer the med to the patient, we only have to scan the patient, not the med again). When I administered the med to the patient, I forgot to scan the patient's barcode on his wristband with the PSS. Flash forward to March 9th when I requested a personal leave of absence to travel to Maine to help my ailing Dad. The request got approved for leave after a required class that I was scheduled to take on March13th. I then received a message from my manager to meet with her concerning a med error. I was unaware of any med errors and asked her what it was about. She said it was ativan and we'd discuss it during our meeting. I met with her on March 13th where she related the error to me.. that ativan was pulled from the pyxis, but no record of it being administered was recorded. She accused me of givng it to the wrong patient because there was another patient that same shift who's girlfriend kept asking for Ativan for him, I told her I would have to get an order from the Dr., however, once the girlfriend left the patient's room, the patient calmed down and I didn't see any need to bother the Dr.for an Ativan order. I relayed all this info to the oncoming nurse and made a note in my nursing notes for that patient. However, my manager insists I gave the patient with the girlfriend the Ativan by mistake. She also said that there was no record of the Ativan being administered. This Ativan incident happend Feb. 12th, over a month ago, yet wasn't brought to my attention until I asked for personal leave. I had plans to head to Maine Wednesday, then got a message from my manager on Wednesday that I need to go in and meet with her again about the med error and do a drug screening on Thursday and that my leave would not start until after Thursday. I replied that I had just submitted a drug screening the week ) as I was searching for a day job (of which she was aware) and that I'd release the results to her...and reiterated why I did not give the ativan to the wrong patient and that I was already on my way to Maine. I also stated that It absurd to think I injected myself with IV Ativan. I also asked why it took over a month to bring this to my attention... it had not been brought to my attention until I requested personal leave. She stated the reason for termination was non-compliance for not complying with the drug screening.
What can I do? At this point, I don't even want to go back to that job, but I don't want to have a termination on my record. At one point, my manager threatened reporting this to the Board of Nursing.
 
I'm sorry, but there is no action you can take and no law you can invoke that is going to force them to list this as anything but a termination. You are free to negotiate with them and see if they are willing to categorize it as a resignation when it come to references, but they are not required to do so and if they refuse there is nothing you can do about it.
 
Refusing to take a drug screen is grounds for immediate dismissal where I work.
I haven't refused a drug screen. I was already on the road to Maine to see my dying dad. just home I make it before he passes, and still am on the road. I took a drug screen via Quest labs for another job I'm pursuing (a day job) just last week) and offered them the results. Otherwise, I told my manager I'd be more than happy to take a drug screen when I return, or do one up in Maine for them.
 
Okay so you didn't "refuse", but you did not show up when they requested you to, so their position is that you did not comply. Having a good reason why you did not comply doesn't matter. Offering the results from some other drug screen is not the same. I'm sure it all seems terribly unfair and I understand that, but unfair is not the same as illegal.
 
Okay so you didn't "refuse", but you did not show up when they requested you to, so their position is that you did not comply. Having a good reason why you did not comply doesn't matter. Offering the results from some other drug screen is not the same. I'm sure it all seems terribly unfair and I understand that, but unfair is not the same as illegal.
Thanks for the replies. I'm still miffed by the fact that they waited over a month to bring the med error to my attention, right after I applied for a personal leave.
 
Do you belong to an employee union? Is there an established appeal process?

You may have options.

I understand why they took the action they did, but if you had already been approved for leave and you were notified of these additional changes after that leave began, then it seems a bit unreasonable for them to go that route. You might have some luck if you are allowed am appeal.
 
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