Asked to reduce pointage...weird

Hi friends!

Would you think it was weird if your unit manager asked you if you wanted to reduced your pointage from a 0.9 FTE to a 0.75 FTE? She asked me that yesterday. She played Spin Doctor and said that it is something to consider since I have had so much stress at home. I have had to take a few FMLA days to help my husband recently, who was injured after having been T-boned while working. She did admit that it would help the unit because covering the days I have taken off has been difficult and she would be able to get approval to hire another nurse if I reduced my pointage. I told her that reducing my pointage wouold actually create more stress for me as I would be unable to pay my bills, but "thanks" for the suggestion.

I don't know--sounds weird and fishy. Thoughts?
If you reduced your pointage, would you still qualify for benefits?Workplaces pay a whole lot of money for their full-time employees to have benefits, so reducing the pointage might render you ineligible, thus saving the company money. This is just a thought.

It does sound a bit off...especially since where work, anything below 0.8 is considered part-time and doesn't carry full benefits with it. If I were you, I'd try to stay at the 0.9...and maybe see if you have family/friends that can help you out with your hubby on occasion so you don't need to take as many days off. Or see if you can shuffle your hours and do fewer days but longer shifts.

My hospital is pretty cool in the way that one still gets benefits at 0.75 FTE. My dream is to reduce my hours someday. I just can't afford it yet.

I can see their point. If you are needing to take time off, they might be having a hard time finding last minute replacements and it would be easier for them to schedule you less and create a part time postion that is scheduled. Your manager was just trying to spin it to you. If you didn't have the FMLA, I could see them trying to get rid or you, so the watch your back thing might apply.

Our floor has mandatory call, so they are probably having to call in the call-person every now and then when I use an FMLA day. I use 2, maybe 3, FMLA days per month and have only needed to use these days since the end of August.

I don't think it was "weird" in any way. I think it was a straightforward attempt to improve a difficult situation. She is having trouble filling in for your absences. The other staff members who are being forced to come in on your FMLA days may be getting tired of it. If you dropped your hours officially, you wouldn't need to use as much FMLA time and the "holes" in the schedule would be filled by a new employee -- not by people having to be called in. She probably figured you might want to do it because you are not working those shifts anyway. Dropping your hours might be a win/win/win situation for her, your colleagues, and maybe for you. So she thought she would ask nicely. I don't see anything wrong with that.Be sure you understand all the little details about your FMLA. Institutions are not required (by federal law) to grant you unlimited time off. After you use a certain amount, you can be terminated. I have 2 friends effected by this aspect of FMLA. Both were terminated because they "used up" all there FMLA. Both took FMLA a couple of times over the past couple of years for personal illnesses, surgery, etc. -- and then had to take more FMLA to care for ill family members. Both didn't drop their hours and just used FMLA to "cover" their absences ... but that caused them to hit the FMLA maximum much sooner than they would have if they had dropped down to part time employment. Neither considered that aspect of FMLA early in the game as they used FMLA to cover their absences from their full time job committment.It may work differently with your employer -- but be sure you look closely at that as you decide what to do.

Thank you for your thoughts, llg.

I agree with llg. Is this going to be ongoing for some time? Then i would consider it. If not and you won't need the extra time off then I wouldn't give up any of your hours....

Not weird and fishy, she is trying to make her job easier at your expense. What would be mean and negative would be if you agreed to the cut, then on your yearly performance evaluation you were criticized for the deed, or even let go. Now that would be what I wouldn't want to have happen as a result of the manager's bright idea.

I don't anticipate any long-term usage of the FMLA. There is, however, a possibility that my husband will have to have spinal surgery, so it's hard to say. He had surgery on his arm on 8/30...I took the week off after his surgery and have needed to take a total 3 days off (spread out here and there) since. So, a total time of 2 work-weeks off. Our unit has lost 6 nurses in the past 4 months--major complaints against management is causing our unit to lose nurses like crazy. Most of the nurses that have left were on night shift. (I work days). Some of our day nurses were pulled from days to help out on nights, so there is a temporary shortage issue. I'm sure that contributes to the reason my manager is stressed about staffing. I get that. The problem should resolve very soon because new staff is in the process of being hired. My needing-to-use-FMLA issue should (hopefully) fizzle out soon. Wouldn't life be so much easier if no one ever needed surgery and never got sick. *Sigh*

Quote from llg;Be sure you understand all the little details about your FMLA. Institutions are not required (by federal law) to grant you unlimited time off. [BAfter you use a certain amount, you can be terminated. I have 2 friends effected by this aspect of FMLA. Both were terminated[/B] because they "used up" all there FMLA. Both took FMLA a couple of times over the past couple of years for personal illnesses, surgery, etc. -- and then had to take more FMLA to care for ill family members. Both didn't drop their hours and just used FMLA to "cover" their absences ... but that caused them to hit the FMLA maximum much sooner than they would have if they had dropped down to part time employment. Neither considered that aspect of FMLA early in the game as they used FMLA to cover their absences from their full time job committment.It may work differently with your employer -- but be sure you look closely at that as you decide what to do.

Hi Snuggles--thanks for providing clarification on FMLA usage! I certainly understand that a staffing issue is created when people call in FMLA 1 hour before a shift starts (I call in no less than 2 hrs before) but sometimes issues arise that weren't anticipated sooner. If I have to take my husband to appts, I will let my charge nurse know a week in advance if possible so that any possible staffing issues can be anticipated better.