Workplace Favoritism

Status
Not open for further replies.
B

Bulldogbaby

New Member
I am a home care nurse (LPN) and have been with a privately owned agency for 3years. There is a co-worker (also an LPN) who seems to be the office favorite. She has less years of nursing experience and has been with this company less time than myself and other nurses, yet she has received numerous promotions and raises in 2 years. She is "friends" with the boss and received the promotions despite the fact that patients and doctors have complained about her quality of work. She also has a drinking problem. She has shown up to work drunk on at least 2 occassions. On one occassion, the boss and owner of the company (also her friend) personally took her to a local physician. We were told that she was having "personal problems" and needed to have sympathy for her. Myself and other employers have smelled alcohol on her and reported it to our supervisor. What were the consequences of her actions? She got promoted (with a pay raise) and became the nurses aide supervisor and chart coder. (desk job). Now, just this past week, she got promoted again to QA staff (another pay raise), and no longer has to take call. Now, the rest of the nurses have to do her job (patient care and being on call). Other nurses were not even given the opportunity for advancement, it was just given to the above mentioned nurse.
Because this nurse and the boss are friends, nobody is about to say anything for fear of reprecussions (getting fired). I have looked into notifying the Board of Nursing, but it can not be done without giving my name, phone number, etc. Is there anything that could be done and not get anyone fired in the long run?
 
There are no laws that forbid "favortism" in the work place. Unless of course this is due to your belonging to a protected class or the action violates an exisiting contract
 
I'm having a hard time understanding. Wouldn't it be considered some type of discrimination because she was promoted only on the basis of being the boss's friend? There are other nurses more qualified to hold the job positions she has been promoted to. What about EEO? Nobody else was even given the opportunity to try for the promotions, it was just announced that "nancy nurse" was promoted to such and such position. We had no clue that the positions were even available, nothing was posted nor mentioned. She has had numerous patients (or their family members) phone our office and speak the the owner/boss and request that "nancy nurse" never return to their home because she smelled of alcohol and acted as though she was drunk. I (and other nurses that work for the comapny) have had patients (or their family members) tell me that "nancy nurse" smelled like she had been drinking. We simply tell them to call the office or write an annonomous letter to our company.
I've worked since I was little and know that there will always be "favorites", that's a fact of life and can't be changed. All I can do is keep doing my job to the best of my ability. But to promote a nurse who obviously has a drinking problem just seems so wrong, not to mention illegal. A nurse can have her license revoked if working under the influence of drugs or alcohol. How can my boss legally keep letting her get away with this? This nurse calls in a lot, comes in late, and when she was providing patient care, there were many times she was "missing in action". She never seen the patients and no one could reach her by phone. Technically, that is patient neglect. A few days later, she had the excuse of "well I was having personal problems at home that I needed to tend to". One time, she called in sick and said it was because her cat died and she was just too upset to come to work. I recently had the flu and had to call in sick and was told that I better have a Dr's excuse in order to get paid. (which I did). Wouldn't that count as discrimination or something? I don't know, it just doesn't seem right
 
Labor Code § 232.5 in ca would cover this for you in ca

in new mexico, i found the following

http://www.workplacefairness.org/whistleblower-retaliation-claim-NM

do you believe that you have been passed over for positions or benefits that the other nurse has gotten due to your age, sex, disability, race, etc. that would be the question at hand i believe, not necessarily that you feel that the other nurse has been unfairly promoted, but that you were not given the same opportunities due to your protected status.

it could be that the other nurse is protected under fmla or disability laws and only your hr would know that, or only your hr should know that and they would not be able to tell you anything other than 'there is a reason for it' to protect her privacy in the workplace and her medical privacy
 
Last edited:
Being the boss' friend (or better said, NOT being the boss' friend) is not a protected class. If the boss wants to hire his/her friends, he may.

Not all discrimination is legal; in fact, most discrimination IS legal. What is "right" and what is "legal" or "illegal" have spearate definitions.

This will all come out in the wash (as my g-pa used to say), when the business starts losing clients because of her.
 
We are both anglo females, although my married last name is a hispanic name. She is actually about 10 yrs. older than I am, and ironically, she got on line and became an ordained minister (crazy, I know).
So legally speaking, nothing can be done? It's ok for her to continue to drink while on company time, get less work and more pay than anyone else, keep calling in with lame excuses, or just not showing up, etc? Legally speaking, it's ok for her to do this because she's an alcoholic and is actually protected because it's considered a "medical condition"? Just doesn't seem right that's all. :confused: So would it be fair to say that if I had a problem with drugs or alcohol, I would get the same protection and preferred treatment under the law?
 
That's what I'm asking. If it isn't ok, then what can myself and the other nurses legally do to stop this? We all love doing home care. We do not want our boss to get in major trouble, nor do we want the business to close, and we are too afraid to say anything because we would get fired for sure. We just want to be treated fairly and would like "nancy nurse" to get the help she needs. Like I said, I wanted to annonomously let the NM board of nursing know, but I can't do it annonomously, I have to file a personal grievance against "nancy nurse". If I were to do that, not only would I get fired, my boss would make sure that it ruined my reputation and I wouldn't get another nursing job in our small town. I know there are laws that protect "whistle-blowers" but that doesn't guarantee that the boss won't make your job so miserable that you'd be forced to quit.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Share this page

Get a free case review from a lawyer
Back
Top