Nurses Union: Providence hospital employees feel pressured to work when ill

The nurses union at Providence said Wednesday health care workers at the hospital and other facilities nationwide feel pressured to go to work even if they’re sick.

“Sick time is an issue at our facility and nationwide,” said Elsie Reyes, with the National Nurses Organizing Committee. That’s the union that represents nurses at Providence, Las Palmas, Del Sol and Sierra hospitals.

She said there’s a culture in the healthcare industry to tough it out when you’re sick. “It’s not just a Providence problem. It’s a problem that’s nationwide.”

The union representative said bed-side employees, like nurses and patient care techs only get three calander days a year for sick time. The sick employee was a patient care tech. If employees call in sick more than the three days, then the employees are penalized, Reyes said. They’re reprimanded with either with a written or verbal warning that goes on their record, according to Reyes.

“We feel we have pressure to not call in when we’re sick and sometimes report to work sick because we don’t have adequate time off.”

Reyes said Providence could improve policies that would protect patients from sick employees.

“There’s no policies in place that allow for a person to call in sick and have a replacement available. If there were more policies in place for that, there wouldn’t be such a detriment to the employee or the company for calling in sick.”

Reyes said the hospital administration employees at Providence get five sick days, more than those who actually interact with patients.

Audrey Garcia, Providence Memorial Hospital spokeswoman, sent the following statement:

“Providence Memorial Hospital does not have a policy under which employees with more than three sick days are penalized. If the employee is sick three days in a row, we require medical clearance from their physician before they can return to work to protect the health and safety of patients and co-workers. As was agreed to by the CNA/NNOC in our current collective bargaining agreement, non-management employees have paid time off (PTO), which includes vacation time, personal time and sick time. The length of paid time off differs based on length of service and hours worked. The hospital is committed to providing patients with high quality care in a safe environment, and employees are instructed and trained to refrain from reporting to work if they are sick.”

The infected worker, which potentially exposed more than 850 babies with active Tuberculosis, reported coughing up blood and showed symptoms of the disease during her annual screening in July. Then, continued to work for more than a month.