Any HR/ employment law or anyone wanting to read and chime in...

[AngB]

Sorry this is long:

Okay so hypothetically speaking I have a friend who works for two major healthcare groups (group A and B) in our area as per diem/prn.

These groups have a contract to provide specialized services within a building of group A, group B provides the doctors, does the billing, and a nurse practitioner and makes most of the money. Group A has the other employees necessary.

So an employee of group A resigned in September. People from group A and group B reached out to friend to ask her if she'd be interested covering the one day a week every week, the same day, hours apart. Except group B wanted them to work in this position as an employee of group B, and "until February" when they had more staffing coming back from maternity leave. In the very first text they approached her about it they said "until February". (Group A planned to hire her for the position indefinitely.)

Friend said she would take the job, but wanted to take it with group A as they paid better, not to mention it was a group A position all along, since this person already worked for group A there was nothing that even needed to be done besides changing a code when she clocked in. After some meetings, friend was told by coworkers she is working there as group A, clock in with them, etc. Friend stayed on employment with group B to fill in and help out when they were desperate for people but didn't really work there much. In fact, there was one day at the very end of December when she was working at Group B but they had an inpatient they needed help with at group A and group B "leaders" asked her to go cover it and she did. (This is relevant in a second.)

So early Jan., group B calls friend and tells her "thank you for your help, we have maternity leave person coming back next week and no longer need you to work at Group A, if you'd like we can give you hours at hospital C (a group B place)." Supervisor of group B didn't even know that was happening, allegedly. Then friend is called by supervisor with group B and is told "it has nothing to do with your skills or abilities, we just need the hours for the regular employee that is coming back from maternity leave because they no longer have the position available before she left. We value you as an employee which is why we are trying to give you a position at hospital C but you are only a prn and aren't guaranteed hours." Except the position is for group A and has only ever been a group A position so they aren't group B's hours to redistribute. Some people higher up get wind of what they are doing and that it is blatantly against the contract between the two groups and they are told to stop. Friend is told she can continue working at group A as group A.

The next week passes without incident except friend has two difficult patients she has to text the doctor on duty about. She's never texted a doctor twice in the same day previously before and they were both minor things, didn't seem like a big deal.

A couple days later she gets a call from supervisor at Group B and the nurse practitioner who tell her that because of those texts to the doctor they want her to get more training and supervisor implies she can't work that day there anymore "by herself", even though this had never been a problem Oct-Dec and in fact the same people saying she needs more training are the ones who asked her to take care of an inpatient 3 weeks before.

And here we are in February, when they wanted to put person from group B in all along even though it's a group A position. Group A had a supervisor that resigned and hasn't been replaced, Group B knows this.

Friend is torn because it's a lot of BS to deal with for a one day a week position, but there is hope that group B will drop out of contract sooner than later because they don't make much if any money from it and overestimated how many group A doctors would want to refer patients to their group (not many and only when they have to.) Group B has this pattern of harassing other employees and have chased many others out in the last 2 years (that were well paid from 20+yrs experience), some that may have even better cases, but at least 2 that friend personally knows. She has most of this documented including a lot of witnesses and supervisor at group B asking one of the nurses if patients were rescheduled "because of friend's abilities" a week or two prior, when supervisor had told nurse to reschedule them herself because nurse pract. wouldn't be there and had been scheduled to see them. (Doctor with the texts was likely set up in a similar fashion.)

Thoughts on whether friend should go to HR of group A with this? Get a lawyer? (Is this a case they'd even take?!) For now she's doing the training they want and laying low but she's hearing that they are trying to get group B employees hospital A access which sounds like they don't intend to ever give her the position back even if she does continue 'training'.

[basil]

Not a lawyer.

Read this 3 times to understand

So friend is employed by Group A (paycheck comes from group A???) but is taking direction from supervisors in Group B? Because she works for Group B in another capacity/different site/different day/different job?

If I'm understanding correctly, it sounds like she needs to identify the person at Group A who is her supervisor/manager for that day/week. It has to be someone, even if higher up than usual because they're ignoring day-to-day things because Group B is more "on the ground". It sounds like Group A is doing a poor job at managing, but there must be someone.

I think though, this sounds like a weird workplace environment, with competing (?) groups providing the same types of employees in the same space, and supervisors managing employees from different groups. I don't know what to make of the performance "complaint" and training, but I think they can very easily not give her the position back for pretty much no reason at all if she is PRN. It does seem like a lot of BS to deal with for one day/week, especially when I would assume that she could easily make up the hours elsewhere, given the overall healthcare market these days.

[AngB]

Not a lawyer.

Read this 3 times to understand

So friend is employed by Group A (paycheck comes from group A???) but is taking direction from supervisors in Group B? Because she works for Group B in another capacity/different site/different day/different job?

If I'm understanding correctly, it sounds like she needs to identify the person at Group A who is her supervisor/manager for that day/week. It has to be someone, even if higher up than usual because they're ignoring day-to-day things because Group B is more "on the ground". It sounds like Group A is doing a poor job at managing, but there must be someone.

I think though, this sounds like a weird workplace environment, with competing (?) groups providing the same types of employees in the same space, and supervisors managing employees from different groups. I don't know what to make of the performance "complaint" and training, but I think they can very easily not give her the position back for pretty much no reason at all if she is PRN. It does seem like a lot of BS to deal with for one day/week, especially when I would assume that she could easily make up the hours elsewhere, given the overall healthcare market these days.

Sorry, it is complicated.
She clocks in with group A and they pay her, but somewhere on the backend Group B reimburses group A for their employee labor (because B are the ones getting most of the money for patients, or in this case most likely losing money but still.) The only A supervisor left is higher up 'director of xx' level and hasn't replied to emails from any employees in like...a month. Not even others requesting a day off. (They have just been finding their own coverage and assuming it's approved if not denied.)

She mostly wants to hang in there because there are hints that Group B is going to get out of the contract sooner than later (none of the doctors at Group A hospital like Group B and so then they most often refer their patients somewhere else...there's not really anything Group B can do to make them like them because they have burnt a lot of bridges, so the Group A doctors refer them outside of Group A completely to other practices with other hospital systems- not A or B.) Because of the type of hospital and floors Group A has, they have to have this specialty to some extent in the building or coverage for it, but they don't have enough of these patients to make sense for them to hire out their own specialists, so friend is hoping that if she could stick it out until B decides to stop losing money and leaves, it will be normal again because the other options for coverage are much better.

I agree it seems increasingly not worth the drama and bs, but I can sympathize with not wanting to let B chase off yet another person. They have put several experienced, very well qualified people into "training" and done crap like this so that they resigned or retired, so they could hire brand new fresh out of school people and save money; at least 2 others that they successfully chased off (1 retired, 1 resigned and got a job easily somewhere else), and 2 that they have tried similar with.

[firstbaby]

What’s the upside to your friend hanging in there? That group B will be out and she would not have to deal with their antics?

I have an HR background but not healthcare so I’m not sure I’m following, but I think it boils down to your friend is a PRN and basically a “subcontractor” through Group B to Group A where she used to work. Group B is giving her the impression that her performance is not stellar and should go through additional training and it’s frustrating to her and sounds a little bit like a
mind——. I don’t think your friend has any HR / legal recourse but I also doubt Group B has anything documented that could negatively affect her later - she’s not technically their employee.

What does she gain by staying at all? What upside if Grouo B doesn’t lose the contract?

[basil]

Why can't she just leave now and then reapply if/when Group B is gone?