Need advice

[acjnnswk]

What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? NY

I have a question. I am a nurse, and I have been suspended from work for what is basically heresay. I understand the position of my company when it comes to the suspension, but they have no proof of the things that have been 'witnessed', which by the way are all circumstantial and cannot be nailed down to me being the guilty party. I have always been one to admit when I make mistakes, so I have no problem admitting fault when fault is due, but this is ridiculous.
I am being written up because meds aren't labeled, so I must not have given them, ie...patches w/times marked on them, even though the administration record records this information as well as our pyxis system...
One incidence said that I found a dirty needle on a bedside table and threw it in the sharps container, and there fore I was written up. Another instance...a nurse says I'm not helping out on the floor with her patients and I'm always charting when she's working. Number 1, I'm six months pregnant and I've been told by my doctor, no heavy lifting, and number 2, charting is part of my job, so what is the problem? My charting is becoming another problem apparently, but it is a floor wide 'problem'. I do what is called block charting. From time segments blocked off in 4 hour increments. I was written up for this as well, and when my supervisor was asked why I was and no one else was, she skirted the situation, saying she was unaware. I gave examples of who and when and she just shook her head and said that she knows that this doesn't happen. The union rep that was there said that she knew for a fact that it DID happen.

My question is ...although I understand the suspension, why was there no investigation into the allegations? All of the 'proof' listed in the write up states, 'another nurse stated'. Do I have any recourse to get this suspension off of my file or am I just out of luck?

 

[eerelations]

Your employer is not legally required to investigate the allegations.

Given that your employer is legally allowed to suspend you because your last name begins with the letter "P" - even when your last name doesn't begin with that letter - your employer is therefore legally allowed to suspend you as a result of unsupported allegations made by a coworker.

Unfair? Maybe. Legal? Absolutely.

 

[acjnnswk]

Ok. That's understandable. But let me come at it from a different angle. Is there anything I can do about the other nurses not being written up for doing the same things that I am getting in trouble for. Again, I understand why the suspension was put in place, and yes, I believe that it was unwarranted and unfair. Am I just going to have to take it with a grain of salt and accept that even though I complain about discrepencies that I find, nothing is being done, it falls on deaf ears and I seem to be the one taking the punishment?

 

[eerelations]

There is nothing illegal about disciplining (up to and including termination) some employees and not others, as long as the decision regarding who to discipline is not based on things like race gender, religion or disability.