The last two days have been some of the worst of my life. I get a call at 4:15pm Tuesday from one of our residency secretaries saying that she got a phone call from the department of graduate medical education stating that I was being terminated for not complying with my annual health screening. The screening only consists of a skin test for tuberculosis. I apparently got an automated email (which I have no recollection of receiving b/c I may have auto deleted b/c it looked like spam) two months ago saying I needed to do the test or face potential 2 week suspension without pay followed by termination.

Anyway, as you can imagine, I was shocked and frightened at what this meant. I am in my fifth and final year of radiology residency and have never been anything but an upstanding citizen in the hospital. Getting fired at this point would be a HUGE fucking deal. I mean life-altering. If you get fired in residency, your career is basically done.

I immediately went to HR where I spoke to the HR manager. This woman said that it was hospital policy that since I didn't comply by 8/27 that I was terminated. She said she notified my immediate boss 2 weeks previously that I was not in compliance and that I was to be suspended, and that if I didn't comply by 8/27, I would be terminated. I was fucking in shock, as no one told me that I was at risk of being suspended or terminated. I explained to this woman that I was furious that even though they have my pager number, my home phone number, my cell number, and my home address in the system, no one ever as much picked up the phone to call me or send a letter to my house saying that I was going to be fired! All they did was notify my boss, who NEVER notified me of this!

I was enraged, but I knew I had to remain calm, as I might need this HR woman on my side to get this shit fixed. I apologized for not getting the test, but I explained that I was never notified of my impending termination. She said that it was not her problem that I was never notified. I again calmly apologized for not getting my screening test on time, and asked what I needed to do to rectify the problem. This lady looked at me with a little smirk on her face and said that she had already gotten the termination paperwork finalized with the CEO of the hospital and that there was nothing that could be done! She actually acted fucking pleased that she got to be the one to let me know that I was getting fired! After 15 more minutes of pleading and getting nowhere, I left to go to talk to my immediate boss.

My immediate boss is a physician who is our "radiology residency program director". She told me that she received an email two weeks previously that contained three people's names who were not compliant, and who would be fired in 2 weeks if they didn't get their test done. She said that my name was most definitely NOT on this list. We went down to that HR manager together to talk at 4:45pm. She pleaded her case to this woman, and said that my name was not included on the list of noncompliant persons. You know what she said? This woman had the audacity to say that the list of persons she included on the email was not "all inclusive"! Why the fuck would she send out an email saying "the below named people will be terminated if they do not comply" if the list wasn't all inclusive!?! The woman reiterated that there was nothing she could do b/c my termination paperwork had already been finalized.

We were both enraged, and immediately left to go talk to the doc who was the head of all residency programs at the hospital. Unfortunately, he was gone for the afternoon, and the issue would have to wait till the next day. You can imagine how my Tuesday night was... I was fucking pissed. This all felt like one of those really bad dreams that you just couldn't get out of.

So Wednesday morning first thing I went and got my TB skin test. Next, I reported to duty per usual, and my program director informed me that I was not allowed to work until we got this shit figured out. She said that we were to have a meeting in the afternoon with this head doc of all residency programs. I figured we would get it all sorted out and everything would be A-OK b/c I knew this man personally. In fact, he is my wife's OB/GYN who actually delivered my child 2 years previously! He was seeing patients all morning and would notify us when he was able to discuss it with us. We'll call him Dr. B.

Another thing I had going for me was that the Dean of the entire medical school used to be the Chairman of the radiology department who I worked with on a nearly daily basis several years previously, and who I consider myself friends with. So this dude is basically top dog. Dr. B was to have a meeting with the Dean at 2pm and Dr. B would meet with me and my boss after that.

So at 2:30, we met with Dr. B, who said he had an extensive meeting with the Dean, who decided that I should not be fired over this b/c even though I wasn't compliant, I was never notified as such. So they are going to do what is necessary to reverse the termination. As you can imagine I was quite relieved having heard that. Dr. B said that I had to wait till my TB skin test came back normal before I could resume working. Even though I knew Dr. B fairly well, I was surprised that he wasn't overly sympathetic with my situation and made it sound like I was lucky that I had the Dean as a friend. In my opinion its pretty ridiculous that it had to come to that point to get all those top dogs involved, and although I considered myself lucky for having friends in high places, I hate to think what may have happened if some first year resident with no connections had this same thing happen to him.

I didn't want to have to hire a lawyer to deal with this shit, as that was going to be my last resort, but there were multiple other holes in the suspension/termination process that I could attack if needed.

So I hope I get this shit wiped clean off my record, b/c when you apply for medical licenses in other states or jobs in other hospitals, you are asked if you have ever been suspended, yada yada. Also, someone brought up the point that I may not get paid for the recent weeks of working b/c I was not compliant. I hope I don't have to fight that shit too.

Sigh, what a clusterfuck. Fuck beuracracy. Fuck pencil pushers who go strictly by the book and won't deal with shit by a case-by-case basis. Fuck first threatening suspension, suspending, and then firing someone without ever notifying that person directly even though you have multiple ways to contact them.

Thanks for listening

Glad everything worked out for you sounds like a shitty situation, i hate the "Your paperworks already been filed" excuse.

Fuck the man

 

Originally Posted by MUPokerPlayer

She said that it was not her problem that I was never notified.

This lady looked at me with a little smirk on her face and said that she had already gotten the termination paperwork finalized with the CEO of the hospital and that there was nothing that could be done! She actually acted fucking pleased that she got to be the one to let me know that I was getting fired!

You know what she said? This woman had the audacity to say that the list of persons she included on the email was not "all inclusive"!

Don't know about the demographics where you live, but if this happened in New York, I would absolutely guarantee that this lady was an overweight black woman.

gl sir

what a bunch of crap... if it were me and I lost my job/career over that, I am sorry to say, but, I would fucking BTM that bitch.....

glad its working out

 

Originally Posted by Willywoo

How can the Dean overrule the CEO? You should still get a lawyer ASAP and make sure he's a damn good one.

Well, residents are technically not hospital employees, but are usually treated as such. The CEO is the head of the hospital. The Dean is the head of the medical school and everyone involved in medical education, which encompasses all residency programs.

If needed, i definitely have holes in their story i can attack, like i said. Our program manual states that "before a resident physician may be suspended without pay or terminated...., the resident physician should be provided in writing with the findings which the University believes support the proposed suspension without pay, or the termination. That written notice will be provided by the residency program director and will include details concerning the findings of misconduct or the performace deficiencies. In addition, the written notice will inform the resident physician that if he or she disagrees with such findings and desires to contest the proposed disciplinary suspension or termination, he or she must inform the residency program director in writing within ten days of receipt of the written notice".

I obviously never received a written notice from my program director that I was either being suspended or terminated. That's just one hole I can attack if needed.

Personal accountability IMO. It's YOUR fault that you didn't see the e-mail. Stop making excuses and blaming everyone else. /conservative holier-than-thouness

I duno why I always seem to be picking on you out of all the conservatives, lol. Seriously tho, situation really sucks, but hopefully it all gets resolved and squared away.

 

Originally Posted by MUPokerPlayer

That's just one hole I can attack if needed.

 

Originally Posted by marinersheep

Personal accountability IMO. It's YOUR fault that you didn't see the e-mail. Stop making excuses and blaming everyone else. /conservative holier-than-thouness

Of course i should be personally accountable. But if they are going to hold me accountable, they need to treat me as all other employees and fucking notify me if they are going to suspend/fire me.

I also told the lady I had no recollection of having received said automated email. I asked her how she knows that I received it. I asked to see her proof that I received the email. I asked her to see the "confirmed receipt of email". She couldn't provide proof obv. That's why they need to treat shit like this via a more formal communication mode than via email. You need to either talk to me directly or send a fucking certified letter w/ signature confirmation to my house before you should be able to fire me over something as minuscule as this. Faceless automated emails do not suffice.

some should tell that HR woman there's a mouse trap in the farmer's house.

 

Originally Posted by marinersheep

Personal accountability IMO. It's YOUR fault that you didn't see the e-mail. Stop making excuses and blaming everyone else. /conservative holier-than-thouness

I duno why I always seem to be picking on you out of all the conservatives, lol. Seriously tho, situation really sucks, but hopefully it all gets resolved and squared away.

really, even though it's an obvious attempt at humor, it's such a fucking fail, I can't even begin to describe the magnitude.

MUPP, I was getting furious with this less than halfway through the post... this bitch wants to fuck with a doctor for her own personal power trip, only because you make more money than her. Little does she care how many years of study you spent, or years of minimal income you made, along with taking on huge debt, in order to help people and their health... all she wants to do is use her little power stamp to fuck over someone who makes more money than her.

I have always thought that I would never hit a woman... but this bitch might make me reconsider, because I can't think of anything better that punching her square in the nose and drawing blood. Fucking cunt.

crazy shit, gl with everything

oh, trust me, resilient, i wanted jump over the table. but i knew that wouldn't get me anywhere.

and ftr, i assuredly make less than this woman, being that my salary is currently ~50k a year.

btw, thanks everybody for the kind words/well wishes. this seriously has had my blood boiling for two days now.

 

Originally Posted by Pghfan987

You're an idiot. I don't think you really believe what you posted, I think you were just going for shock value. Getting fired is not an appropriate repercussion for failing to read and act on one important email in 5 years.

Best wishes MUPP, hopefully this gets resolved.

I was clearly joking.