Case 26 -- It's My Job!!

Betty is an outpatient clerk in a 150-bed urban hospital. Her duties consist of admitting patients for scheduled outpatient procedures, obtaining the necessary verification of benefits from insurance companies, and working with utilization review personnel to ensure that all the precertification information is received when needed. Various staff members have complained to Jean, Betty's supervisor, about Betty's abrasive attitude and the foul language she occasionally uses. Jean was hired six months ago to replace Kate, who moved to another hospital. Betty has a reputation of being hard to get along with and coworkers avoid contact with her as much as possible.

In June, Betty announced she was three-months pregnant and was expecting her baby in early December. Jean told Betty to review the requirements in the personnel handbook regarding pregnancy leave. A leave-of-absence (LOA) form was to be completed by Betty stating when her baby was expected and the amount of time she was requesting off. The personnel manual also stated that every effort would be made to return an employee on LOA to his or her previous job, but no guarantee could be made that the same job would be available.

In September, Betty began having trouble with her pregnancy. In early October, she was put on bed rest and instructed not to return to work. Betty called Jean to inform her of the doctor's order, and Jean told her to keep in touch. Because Betty was not due to deliver for two more months and was expected to be off work at least six weeks beyond the due date, Jean felt she could not go that long without a person in Betty's position.

In late October, Betty had her baby. When she called Jean to tell her the baby had been born, Jean asked about returning to work, but Betty could not give a date because the premature baby had some problems. She also told Jean that when she returned to work, she could only work on the days her husband would be home because she did not want to leave the baby with anyone else until it got stronger.

Jean told Betty that she could not schedule around her husband's hours, but she would see what could be arranged to give her some part-time work. Jean then checked with the personnel director to see hat Betty had requested for time off. At that point, she discovered that Betty had never filled out the required LOA form. Because Betty had not done the necessary paperwork and only wanted part-time work when she did return, Jean decided to give Joanne, a temporary employee, Betty's full-time job and put Betty in a part-time position elsewhere in the hospital. This position would eliminate her contact with the public and make her less visible to other employees, thereby relieving some of the problems Betty created.

Betty learned about the position change from a coworker who called to ask about the baby. Betty then called Joanne, cursed at her, and accused her of stealing her job. She called the hospital administrator and requested an appointment to talk to him about the unfair manner in which she had been treated and to request her full-time job back. The administrator called in Jean, the personnel director, and Jean's supervisor. After listening to what had transpired and their comments about Betty's attitude, the administrator asked to see Betty's personnel file. According to the file, Betty had received satisfactory reviews from Kate, the supervisor prior to Jean. She had only one written warning in the file pertaining to a violation of the departmental dress code; she had come to work dressed in a revealing sundress.

Discussion Questions:

1. Who is at fault in this situation?

Jeans’s fault is that she never documented any complaints about Betty’s abrasiveness and foul language. There were many staff members complaining about Betty’s attitude and Jean never did anything about it. There was a national survey conducted by HRhero.com stating one out over every three employers rated their organization documentation as not very good. Employers tend to get themselves into trouble by not having proper documentation to support their employment decisions. Per the national survey the biggest reasons is fear of confrontation, do not like doing the paperwork, lack of supervisory training and discipline procedures. (Munoz, 2005) In this case Jean had no documentation at all in Betty’s abrasiveness and foul language.

What solution can be proposed?

FMLA requires an employee to be restored to the same or equivalentjob and pay. U.S. Department of Labor. (2010). However; Betty required that she only work on the days her husband would be home, Jean has done so, advising Betty it was going to be part time. Also Jean should be issuing a Final Warning for Conduct to Betty because she shouldn’t be calling another employee and accusing that employee of stealing her job.

3. What are the responsibilities of the administrator and department director in this situation?

The responsibilities of the administrator are to make sure everyone was treated equally, to make sure that everything is reviewed and all the necessary documents are done and taken in appropriate steps are taken. The administrator also needs to inform all members of management when there is a complaint on coworkers it needs to be investigated and take the necessary steps to take care of the issue, looks like a training opportunity for the department director. Training is crucial for organizational development and success. It is successful to both employers and employees of an organization. An employee will become more efficient and productive if he is trained well. (Pierce, 2012)

The department director is to tighten up on corrective action, documentation process (including LOAs), effective communication and improve follow up. Many people experience difficulties connecting effectively with others. Much of what we communicate to each other gets overlooked or misunderstood, which can cause conflict. (Robinson, 2011) The more documentation an employer is able to supply regarding the communications with, and actions taken toward, its employees, the better. “When things are documented, they are less likely to be disputed by a current or former employee, and when they are challenged, they are much easier to defend.” (Troutman Sanders LLP 2010)

4. What are the ramification of the Family Medical Leave Act, if any, on this case?

The employee had the right to believe that she was on an actual LOA and protected by FMLA because the Employer’s action seemed so. To reduce her hours would be a violation of the Employee’s rights under FMLA. A jury of her peers would certainly side with her in a court of law; however; Betty requested that she only work on the days her husband would be home, Jean has done so, advising Betty it was going to be part time.
Under FMLA an employee to be eligible for FMLA benefits, an employee must have worked for the employer for a total of 12 months and/or have worked at least 1,250 hours over the previous 12 months (U.S. Department of Labor. 2010) In this case were not 100% sure if Betty has worked there for a year there or not.

5. When providing the final group response, please answer this question: Did everyone in the group do their equal share of the work? Be honest!

Source:

Kilpatrick, A.O, & Johnson, J.A. (1999). Human Resources and Organizational Behavior: Cases in Health Services Management, Case 26: It's My Job! (pp. 55-56), Health Administration Press.

Munoz, Paul A. (May 2005). Lorman Education Services. In Developing & Maintaining Employee Documentation – It's All In The Audit Trail. Retrieved January 31, 2012, from http://www.lorman.com/newsletter/article.php?article_id=69&newsletter_id=17&category_id=1.

Pierce, Rick. (2012). Business Expert Webinars. In Organizational Development & Training: Strategies for Managing Planned Change . Retrieved Feb 1, 2012, from http://www.businessexpertwebinars.com/content/view/595/29/.

Robinson, Lawrence and Segal, Jeanne and Segal, Robert. (July 2011). HELPGUIDE. In IMPROVING COMMUNICATION SKILLS IN BUSINESS AND RELATIONSHIPS. Retrieved Feb 1, 2012, from http://www.helpguide.org/mental/eq4_emotion_communicates.htm.

Troutman Sanders LLP. (December 16, 2010 ). Troutman Sanders. In An Employer’s First Line of Defense: The Importance of Good Documentation. Retrieved Feb 1, 2012, from http://www.troutmansanders.com/lewinter2011-02/.

U.S. Department of Labor. (2010). Fact Sheet #28: The Family and Medical Leave Act of 1993 . In Wage and Hour Division (WHD). Retrieved 01/31/2012, from http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs28.htm.