Daughter broke her arm, Boss less than sympathetic- How to respond?

[TexasKiwiPrincess]

I am a hospital pharmacist, working rotating shifts and weekends.
Last week my daughter broke her arm in gym at school. I was scheduled to work swing shift, 2:30-11pm. I first took her to the pediatrician's office at 10am, we confirmed by 10:15 that her arm was in fact broken, not a sprained wrist as suggested by the school nurse. While the medical assistant was making our appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, I called the hospital and let them know that I had a medical emergency that may cause me to be late for work. (This was 4 hours before my shift.) I continued to update the hospital as things progressed, and received replies from my boss "We can't wait to see your smiling face." We had the surgery consult (no surgery needed!) and then waited for her cast to be applied. I emailed again when I was on my way in. I arrived at 5:00, 2.5 hours beyond the start of my shift.

On Tuesday, my boss sent me an email stating "I expect that you will work all future shifts, as scheduled, in their entirety."

I am still processing this. I have exceptional attendance. I've had one sick day in 3 years, and frequently cover shifts on short notice when others have called out. I feel like I went above and beyond communicating my situation in a professional manner, and completely within the requirements outlined in the hospitals time and attendance policy.

What I really need is some HR advice. This email came across as threatening and not supportive of what happened. I mean, it's not like I was dealing with my daughter's cold. She broke her arm!! Right now I cannot comprehend the audacity of this email. I am livid and don't trust myself to keep my reply professional. Any thoughts or advice? Anyone with HR experience that could comment?

 

[mi*vida*loca]

What is your hospital policy? I would look that up and send them a copy if you aren't violating it.

In my healthcare system it's something like after being late 5 times in a year you get a verbal, then it goes to verbal written, write up, suspension and then termination. Same with full day call outs. I could see an email like that from your boss if you were violating policy and were on the borderline of being reprimanded.

I've realized in some healthcare jobs sometimes it's just better to call out an entire shift because of crap like this. I know in my current department they would rather you be late than not show up at all. But my last department if you were late you could feel the tension.

 

[Gumbo4x4]

I would document everything including screen shots of the texts. And I would then file it away for another day.

 

[Southernmiss]

I am a hospital pharmacist, working rotating shifts and weekends.
Last week my daughter broke her arm in gym at school. I was scheduled to work swing shift, 2:30-11pm. I first took her to the pediatrician's office at 10am, we confirmed by 10:15 that her arm was in fact broken, not a sprained wrist as suggested by the school nurse. While the medical assistant was making our appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, I called the hospital and let them know that I had a medical emergency that may cause me to be late for work. (This was 4 hours before my shift.) I continued to update the hospital as things progressed, and received replies from my boss "We can't wait to see your smiling face." We had the surgery consult (no surgery needed!) and then waited for her cast to be applied. I emailed again when I was on my way in. I arrived at 5:00, 2.5 hours beyond the start of my shift.

On Tuesday, my boss sent me an email stating "I expect that you will work all future shifts, as scheduled, in their entirety."

I am still processing this. I have exceptional attendance. I've had one sick day in 3 years, and frequently cover shifts on short notice when others have called out. I feel like I went above and beyond communicating my situation in a professional manner, and completely within the requirements outlined in the hospitals time and attendance policy.

What I really need is some HR advice. This email came across as threatening and not supportive of what happened. I mean, it's not like I was dealing with my daughter's cold. She broke her arm!! Right now I cannot comprehend the audacity of this email. I am livid and don't trust myself to keep my reply professional. Any thoughts or advice? Anyone with HR experience that could comment?

Was there more to the email or previous discussions? From the outside looking in it looks like you both are overreacting. Has there been any face to face discussions about tardiness or attendance?

Was there a memorandum that came from your supervisors boss that you are not aware of ?

Can you go to your supervisor and calmly say "Can you help me to understand this email?"C

 

[Pixiedustaway]

Could you have just called out? I had an issue with my daughter and eventually told my boss I'd be out. He was ok with it. I get what you were doing but I think I would have called out at a certain point

 

[Tuffcookie]

OP, Glad your daughter's arm does not require surgery! I would be fuming too. I would not respond to your boss's e-mail and would probably contact HR.

TC

 

[Gracie09]

check your employee handbook. Does your sick time include caring of children (not all places allow that).

 

[justussix]

Is there a reason that your communication might have given them the impression that you were attempting to be in on time, or very close too it? 2 1/2 hours is a long time to be left short staffed in a hospital pharmacy position. I'm assuming they were either short for the time you weren't there, or the day shift had to stay until you got there without clear knowledge of when that would be.

Point being, would it have been better for them if you had just called in so they could get someone else to cover the shift in its entirety?

Granted, the tact of your boss left a lot to be desired. However, I can kind of see where the message is coming from. While status updates are appreciated, they don't fix the staffing needs of that 2 1/2 hour period.

 

[BLAZEY]

I would keep the email exchange with the boss and ask HR for correct way (how they want it handled) future emergency situations should be handled. Life outside of work is equally of not more important than work and sometimes will need your attention for emergencies that occur during work hours.

I agree you handled the situation the best way possible with communicating status of the situation. You say you have covered for co-workers that have had to miss shifts, and this kind of think is a give and take.

I have an 8 year old DD. My mother lives 5 minutes away. My boss knows that if DD is sick, 99% of the time I may be a few minutes late if I need to wait for mum to get here to watch DD. He would much rather me be an hour or so late that have to take a whole day. I work 9-5 doing administration, costing, invoicing and payroll for and aggregate production company. I also cover working out at our aggregate pit running the scale at our quarry. Quarry hours are 6:45am-4pm. My boss knows he can call me at a moments notice and I will make arrangements for DD to get to school (drop at my mum's place) and be at the quarry as soon as possible. Flexibility works both ways.

 

[brockash]

I am a hospital pharmacist, working rotating shifts and weekends.
Last week my daughter broke her arm in gym at school. I was scheduled to work swing shift, 2:30-11pm. I first took her to the pediatrician's office at 10am, we confirmed by 10:15 that her arm was in fact broken, not a sprained wrist as suggested by the school nurse. While the medical assistant was making our appointment with the orthopedic surgeon, I called the hospital and let them know that I had a medical emergency that may cause me to be late for work. (This was 4 hours before my shift.) I continued to update the hospital as things progressed, and received replies from my boss "We can't wait to see your smiling face." We had the surgery consult (no surgery needed!) and then waited for her cast to be applied. I emailed again when I was on my way in. I arrived at 5:00, 2.5 hours beyond the start of my shift.

On Tuesday, my boss sent me an email stating "I expect that you will work all future shifts, as scheduled, in their entirety."

I am still processing this. I have exceptional attendance. I've had one sick day in 3 years, and frequently cover shifts on short notice when others have called out. I feel like I went above and beyond communicating my situation in a professional manner, and completely within the requirements outlined in the hospitals time and attendance policy.

What I really need is some HR advice. This email came across as threatening and not supportive of what happened. I mean, it's not like I was dealing with my daughter's cold. She broke her arm!! Right now I cannot comprehend the audacity of this email. I am livid and don't trust myself to keep my reply professional. Any thoughts or advice? Anyone with HR experience that could comment?

Just to have a record, I would reply (including anyone who your boss included) and state something like "As I always have in the past, I plan to work all future shifts, as scheduled, in their entirety. I understand that on (whatever date it was) I was unable to come into work until 5:00 due to a medical emergency, in which I informed the hospital of and continued communication with from the time the emergency occurred until I arrived at work. Is there anything else that you would like me to do in the future in the case of a medical emergency? I am happy to handle those types of situations any way that the hospital sees best, please just let me know. Thank you..."

Def. a weird email to get from your boss, but I would def. respond with an email such as this, just for the paper trail and to make sure their was no miscommunication etc.

 

[DebbieB]

I think you may have been better off calling out, they could have found someone to take your shift. But the way you did it, were they short staffed until you got there? That's where there may have been complaints and your boss felt he needed to address it that way, he may have got pressure from above.

 

[wenrob]

Even though you were keeping them updated you were kind of leaving them hanging because someone needed to hang over until you got there and they may still have needed to call someone in but they had no idea of when. Something like that calling out would have been the easiest option for everyone. The text doesn't come across as a threat to me. More of an you need to work your entire shift (or not) type of thing.

 

[justussix]

How about responding:

"Understood. My apologies for the inconvenience the other day. There was a lot of uncertainty, but I initially thought I could make it in on time. In the future, I will let you know earlier if coverage is needed. Punctuality is important to me as well, as my past attendance record shows. Thanks for understanding."

 

[Cloudy]

I am also a hospital pharmacist. I would apply for FMLA right now to cover your daughter's injury just in case you need to take time off in the future. You need to protect your job. I would talk to HR about the hospital's time off policy or read it as well. In addition, I would talk to your boss directly to ask about this incident and whether or not it would have been better for you to call off your shift entirely so they knew they had to replace you in advance. My boss is definitely all business but even she is not this bad. Our PTO policy would not allow his\her response either.

 

[DLgal]

Did you offer to stay an extra 2.5 hours at the end of that shift?

 

[TexasKiwiPrincess]

Was there more to the email or previous discussions? From the outside looking in it looks like you both are overreacting. Has there been any face to face discussions about tardiness or attendance?

Was there a memorandum that came from your supervisors boss that you are not aware of ?

Can you go to your supervisor and calmly say "Can you help me to understand this email?"C

The email was 3 lines long. The rest of it was "The work you do here is important. It hurts the team when someone is out." then the line about "I expect that you will work all future shifts, as scheduled, in their entirety." I've never had a face to face discussion about tardiness or attendance. It hasn't been an issue that a discussion would be warranted. I can't know if there was a memorandum that come down the chain that I'm not aware of. This clearly was an emergency situation that I had no control over. Why that tone when I show up every day, on time, year after year? Of course I will continue to work all shifts I am scheduled for- that's what I do. I will review the policy again today when I go in, but I am pretty sure I am in compliance.

Honestly, I am not comfortable going to his office and engaging him on this one-on-one. I need everything in writing.

He is one of those bosses you read about that I denied existed. When I started at this hospital, I approached him about hosting a nursing education topic discussion on antibiotics and he told me to take the nurses baked goods instead. Something homemade would be a nice touch. (He doesn't ask male pharmacists to provide baked goods.) Another co-worker was pregnant and he suggested she would be happier working from home. Offered to forward her the recruiter's information. Sure, could be a nice sentiment on the surface, but the delivery communicated so much more. He really treated her poorly and she eventually found a much better position in another state.

It's a fine line. I don't want to burn bridges, but I also don't want to be a doormat, and I don't know how to walk that line, and I don't know if HR would be helpful. I don't consider HR to be there for the employees, but rather to mitigate liabilities for the employer. I went to HR when he told me to bring in homemade baked goods instead of actually using my credentials and sharing knowledge with nursing. It turned into a "he said/she said" and nothing came of it.

 

[TexasKiwiPrincess]

Did you offer to stay an extra 2.5 hours at the end of that shift?

The work environment doesn't really support that. I left at 11pm. The work tasks that come in decrease significantly when patients go to sleep and doctors go home. Staying over an additional 2.5 hrs at that time would also mean that I would be paid a time differential for working deep nights. So more on the payroll.

 

[pryncess527]

Just to have a record, I would reply (including anyone who your boss included) and state something like "As I always have in the past, I plan to work all future shifts, as scheduled, in their entirety. I understand that on (whatever date it was) I was unable to come into work until 5:00 due to a medical emergency, in which I informed the hospital of and continued communication with from the time the emergency occurred until I arrived at work. Is there anything else that you would like me to do in the future in the case of a medical emergency? I am happy to handle those types of situations any way that the hospital sees best, please just let me know. Thank you..."

Def. a weird email to get from your boss, but I would def. respond with an email such as this, just for the paper trail and to make sure their was no miscommunication etc.

I'd send an email along those lines. It helps build your case in writing while not appearing combative, but instead proactively seeking a solution.

 

[mi*vida*loca]

I think you may have been better off calling out, they could have found someone to take your shift. But the way you did it, were they short staffed until you got there? That's where there may have been complaints and your boss felt he needed to address it that way, he may have got pressure from above.

A good boss would've covered the 2.5 hour shift (I assume since he's the boss he's also a pharmacist). That way he wouldn't have had complaints or pressure from anyone. That's what my boss would do. Same for when she's out. We cover her.

 

[TexasKiwiPrincess]

I think you may have been better off calling out, they could have found someone to take your shift. But the way you did it, were they short staffed until you got there? That's where there may have been complaints and your boss felt he needed to address it that way, he may have got pressure from above.

Could you have just called out? I had an issue with my daughter and eventually told my boss I'd be out. He was ok with it. I get what you were doing but I think I would have called out at a certain point

No one had to stay over. I felt calling out the entire shift would have been more detrimental to the team, which is why I made every effort to arrive at work as soon as possible. You can bet I will consider this in the future!