Can my hospital force me to go back to school?

I was hired in December of 2011 with a start date of January 2012 because of orientation schedule. I originally was hired as part time but now work as needed with a minimum of 2 shifts per month because my husband travels for work and I stay home with our young daughter. A member of HR called me a few days ago stating that I was required to get my BSN. She stated that I had 18 months to enroll in program and 3 years to complete it. When speaking with her more she stated that all nurses hired after December of 2011 were required to do this. She then stated that since I was hired in January, I should have been enrolled in a program by this past July 2013. This was the first I was hearing about this and she said that I was told this when I was hired. I 100% was never told this!! She even said that she couldn't find any documentation of the recruiter talking to me about this requirement. That is definitely something that I would remember. I did not accept my position with this stipulation and don't feel that it is fair that they are now telling me that I need to enroll right now or I will be terminated. They also said they would not reimburse me at all for school because I have a position with no benefits. If I would have known about this before then I would have enrolled while I was working my old position when I had the benefits of reimbursement. I honestly cannot afford it right now since I am only working a few nights a month and my husband is the only one working regularly.
Someone dropped the ball obviously but can I really lose my job for not completing a requirement that was never discussed with me? Can I be forced to pay out of pocket for school when I never knew about this stipulation when I was hired? If they cannot find any documentation of advising me of this, can I be required to do it?
I would think that if you are hired with a stipulation like this, a new hire would have to sign some sort of promissory note stating that they accept the position on the basis that they will complete all requirements.
What can I do to keep my job?
I'm very confused about the Promissory Note question at the end of the paragraph....are they loaning you money?At any rate, yes, I believe that you must fulfill their requirements or give up your position. In fairness, though, I would think that they would allow the later start date since it was obvious that you were never informed of the stipulation to your employment."What can I do to keep my job?"It's your choice to continue to work there or to look for another prn position that does not require the BSN.

You are asking a legal question, not a nursing one. So you might want to talk to an attorney before making any final decisions. If you would be satisfied with just getting the additional year (and they have admitted that they have no documentation that you were told on hire) ... perhaps you could negotiate with them to give you that additional time. You could use that time to figure out what you were going to do and/or perhaps change your position to one with benefits.An increasing number of hospitals are instituting similar hiring practices. So if you otherwise like your facility/job, you might want to search for a way to make it work for you rather than simply quick and assume you will be able to avoid the BSN requirement elsewhere. In other words, don't give up a good job until/unless you have a good alternative plan in place. Your situation includes the "extra wrinkle" that you were not told on hire. That's where you might benefit from legal counsel and/or a little negotiation with your employer.

Yep, it's legal because they have basically "eliminated" the old job (that did not require a BSN). The new job requires a BSN. It happens all the time. Employers are free to manage their companies as they see fit, including adding, changing or eliminating jobs. I am not saying it's the right thing to do from an ethical standpoint, but it is legal. You may be able to get some concessions if you should have been informed about this requirement at the time you were hired - and they can't prove that they informed you. In the US, I think we are moving toward a time when all acute care RN jobs will require a BSN. It's already happened in most large cities and now it's disseminating into other areas of the country.

The right question to ask is: Will your employer pay for it? and if yes, then this is an opportunity to further make yourself marketable. I say go for it. The beginning is always hardest and most employers offer tuition reimbursement.

This sucks, but sounds like you might be forced to get another job or start working on that BSN. There are some online programs that you might be able to afford. Good luck.

Force you to go back to school? No.Determine you no longer meet their requirements to maintain employment and terminate you? Yes.My facility has recently moved to begin requiring nurses to get their BSN to meet the IOM's recommendation of 80% of RNs holding a BSN by 2020. They do offer tuition reimbursement ($4500/yr or 90%, whichever is less); however, there are several older nurses who will most likely opt for earlier retirement than return to school. Can't say that I really blame them as at that close to retirement, who wants to go into debt? Tuition reimbursement, at least at MSN level (which I am currently working on) doesn't even cover half the cost of school.

Quote from The_OptimistThe right question to ask is: Will your employer pay for it? and if yes, then this is an opportunity to further make yourself marketable. I say go for it. The beginning is always hardest and most employers offer tuition reimbursement.

Thank you everyone. I appreciate the input. I do want to work towards my BSN and wish I could start now. But, without any assistance, I cannot afford it. I am just upset that everyone else got/gets 18 months after their hire to enroll and because they dropped the ball and didn't inform me I am not awarded that luxury. I just found out today that they are giving me 3 months to enroll before they terminate me. I think, at very least, they should let me have the 18 months notification to have a chance to research, look for assistance, etc. just like everyone else got.

They can't "force" you to go back to school but they can make it a requirement to keep your job. It's your choice. Either you go back to school and keep your job or you don't and look elsewhere for employment.