Gilroy, CAThree days ago, Colleen's boss phoned, ostensibly to drop by her clinic for a site visit. "Instead she came over to fire me," says Colleen, who is still in shock. "I talked with my brother??" he is the head of labor law for the state of California and said I have a California Labor Law case if I want to pursue it."
And Colleen intends to pursue it. Not only was she wrongfully terminated; she was also humiliated. Her boss called her into the HR office and said, "The hospital and our company are in agreement that a change in leadership has to happen so we are terminating you."
"I was numb," says Colleen. "My ears were ringing; it was so surreal that I couldn't even think. Then my boss handed me my final paycheck and told me to clear out my desk. They had security come into my office along with the VP of HR; they stood there in front of me while I packed my belongings??"while the staff and doctors looked on."
Colleen was the director of a wound care program. She explains that her position involved a triad where 2 other managers help and collaborate with her: one is the medical director and the other is the clinical manager, but Colleen has overall responsibility for the outcome of the clinic, above and beyond the two managers.
But they didn't help her; instead Colleen found herself working 60-hour weeks, 7 days a week. To make matters worse, both managers were living together: nepotism is usually a recipe for disaster. "I found this out on my first day of work," says Colleen," and my boss confirmed it was true. This is a small hospital; if an employee has a problem with one manager, how do you go to the other one with a complaint?
"The medical director let me know early on that he didn't want this position; he proved that by doing nothing except collect a paycheck; meanwhile the VP of nursing called me into her office and said, 'You need to know the clinical manager has some problems with this hospital'. And I was trying to get this new clinic going??"not having either of them doing their work caused me a lot of grief, to say the least.
Anyway, I got the clinic going by myself, without their help. But I told my boss that we would likely have problems when we go operational. She told me to start a disciplinary documentation process, which I did. The clinical manager had never been disciplined in the past so it might look like my inability to work with them, but the VP of HR and the VP of nursing told me to document everything meticulously, which I did, with witnesses present.
After 6 months of dragging this elephant up the hill, the VPs suggested the clinical manager take another position in the hospital, which she did, but she also told the VP of HR that I had created a hostile work environment. They investigated but it didn't bear out her claims.
The VP of nursing moved to another hospital and I reported to a new boss who didn't know about these issues-- that I never had any help or support. But because we had personnel issues, they terminated me. I have a stellar performance record, despite all the obstacles. And I was exhausted, mentally and physically because they refused to give me time off, they knew I was the only game in town, I was the only one getting the job done.
The only reason they gave to terminate me was that they wanted new leadership. I believe it was because my new boss panicked: if we didn't get the staff under control we would lose the contract with the hospital. So she blamed me??"it was easier. This hospital is union and in my opinion, it cultivates an environment of poor work ethic. I expected people to show up and work for 8 hours, not sit around and read magazines and gossip.
My termination is beyond comprehension. The other directors I worked with are in shock??"they couldn't believe it. I had great relationships in that hospital and I exceeded the national standards of my company. But my new boss thought she might loose the contract; I believe she was overwhelmed with her new job and rather than deal with everyone else's bad behavior, I was fired.
In the past two days I've been busy getting my resume together. I am going to the labor board this week to file a grievance and my next step is to seek legal help."