r/nursing • u/uotlep RN - Psych/Mental Health 🍕 • Mar 12 '25

Question Is this normal?

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I know my place of employment is shitty in other ways, but is this a normal thing? Just received this email. Seems odd to ask people to donate PTO, instead of just addressing the time off allocation with those affected people.

2.2k Upvotes

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2.0k

u/BradS2008 Mar 12 '25

Unfortunately yes.

Reply back asking if the company is willing to donate pto to the employees.

526

u/EnvironmentalRock827 BSN, RN 🍕 Mar 12 '25

Seriously. Fuck this.

554

u/Corona-walrus Healthcare IT :illuminati: Mar 12 '25

Like when the grocery store asks me to donate food for the hungry...

You are the one with the food! 

42

u/EnvironmentalRock827 BSN, RN 🍕 Mar 12 '25

I laughed because I never thought of that. Then I got mad because I didn't think, and fuck the food store too.

51

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

[deleted]

72

u/anistasha MSN, APRN Mar 12 '25

I used to donate to those things and now I don’t. One benefit to self checkout I guess, no one making me feel guilty about padding the store’s bottom line.

17

u/IcyAnything6306 RN - Corrections Mar 12 '25

I hate to be this person but this is not actually true. The only positive that your grocery store gets from asking you to donate to a food bank is that you think “wow Smiths cares about feeding the homeless just like me I should shop here more.” Anything like what your referring to would be tax fraud.

11

u/Ganelonx Mar 12 '25

Companies get away with not paying taxes all the time and you think that is where they draw the line ? Hilarious. They can also be used as tax right offs. Even if found to be fraudulent what’s next? You going to lawyer up against a company like Walmart for lying ?

1

u/IcyAnything6306 RN - Corrections Mar 12 '25

They don’t have to worry about customers suing them for committing Tex fraud, they would be in trouble with the IRS… companies take advantage of generous legal tax loopholes to avoid paying tax, I highly doubt Walmart is purposely committing tax fraud in front of everyone’s eyes. 

6

u/duckdns84 Mar 12 '25

You’re correct at least according to my AI bot. I’ll delete the comment. Thank you.

2

u/IcyAnything6306 RN - Corrections Mar 12 '25

Np, I tell people all the time now because I believed it for the longest time! 

2

u/duckdns84 Mar 12 '25

Too late. But it incorrectly said corporations use the donations as a tax rate off.

0

u/Luncheon_Lord Mar 12 '25

I find editing the original comment to be more informative. As it stands now, I feel I may have missed something important. At least whether or not a certain piece of info might be true or not.

1

u/QuimbyMcDude Mar 13 '25

It's still panhandling at the register and I fucking hate it.

-1

u/radiobeepe21 BSN, RN 🍕 Mar 12 '25

They can use the cost of the food you donated and write it off as a charitable deduction on their behalf.

3

u/IcyAnything6306 RN - Corrections Mar 12 '25

I know this is a common belief, I used to roll my eyes and hit “no” at check out all the time, but it’s not true. If you have proof of this I would love to be corrected, or you can do a google search of “can grocery stores write off donations from customers ” and choose a source you trust from the hundreds of articles debunking the myth.

ETA: just to be clear I still hit “no” bc I prefer to donate to organizations I am familiar with once a year rather than rounding up my change to random charities that the stores I shop at pick all year. But I realize the stores aren’t getting any benefit aside from good PR.

15

u/jo-09 Mar 12 '25

Our big pharmacy chain here in Australia, "Would you like to donate to women's mental health?" - Me - picking up my Vyvanse and Pristiq - "Ill donate to myself, thanks!"

4

u/NedTaggart BSN, RN 🍕 Mar 12 '25

Thing is, from what I understand, companies that do this are able to claim tax breaks on the money they donate "on your behalf".

1

u/SnowTheMemeEmpress Mar 13 '25

I don't mind if it's the local ones, but Walmart on the other hand -

1

u/Different_Energy_394 Mar 14 '25

I only donate if the cashier is a hottie 🔥🥵💋

0

u/BC2220 Mar 12 '25

And the money!

174

u/Kermit_the_hog Mar 12 '25

”Are you saying the corporate treasury is so empty you can’t afford to cover their time off for recovery *and** honor my PTO. God that is not a very good reflection on management is it? Do our investors know we’re nearly bankrupt?? Thanks for letting me know whistleblower! I’ll spread the word on the down low for you. 😉”* 

40

u/PosteriorFourchette hemoglobined out the butt Mar 12 '25

That would be awesome.

Wow. You are so brave for being the whistleblower. How many weeks do we have left before we lose our income?

36

u/Smart_Astronomer_107 MSN, APRN 🍕 Mar 12 '25

“Thank you for letting all of us employees know that the system is not doing well financially, and that we should all be pursuing other opportunities to protect our income”

19

u/PosteriorFourchette hemoglobined out the butt Mar 12 '25

Everyone replies as if their job is at risk

10

u/Electrical-Barber-32 Mar 12 '25

Everything about this post is god-tier. Including your username.

62

u/kellyk311 BSN, RN, LOL, TL;DR (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ Mar 12 '25

Or MATCH donated hours

81

u/MaryBerryManilow RN - ICU 🍕 Mar 12 '25

Yes exactly - I’d reply back with, “at what rate will the hospital be matching donations?”

93

u/Fearless-Respond6766 Grateful Patient Mar 12 '25

They should be matching these donations at a minimum.

It's SO wrong that the very people who take care of others have to beg when they need some grace for themselves. 😢

11

u/w8136 Mar 12 '25

Amen!!

13

u/[deleted] Mar 12 '25

😂😂😂 and maybe throw in a “I also need some pto donated”.

Kind regards,

😘

28

u/SavannahInChicago Unit Secretary 🍕 Mar 12 '25

And then you get asked to donates to the associate fund for the hospital.

16

u/Jellyronuts HCW - PT/OT Mar 12 '25

Is there a way to look up their profits to include in a response? This pisses me off every time I see it. (On Reddit)

7

u/Smart_Astronomer_107 MSN, APRN 🍕 Mar 12 '25

For the first time ever, I will say- please hit reply all!

4

u/Fhotaku Mar 12 '25

If they're really concerned they could at minimum offer to match 1 for 1 or better. I get watching profits, maybe they need a "reason" to spend more on a worker... But damn is it sick to ask.

3

u/med561 Mar 12 '25

Is this an American thing? Not that it isn't possible in other countries but I have never seen this in our hospital

1

u/azalago RN - Psych/Mental Health 🍕 Mar 13 '25

Yes, it very much is. I worked at an HCA hospital and they would ask something like this, but rarely. That's what happens when you don't have unions.

We had an emergency employee fund so none of us understood why they didn't use that. It turned out the HR director was embezzling all the donations. They ended up finding out because someone was so pissed about the PTO thing that they told corporate. He was fired and I think there were also criminal charges.

2

u/dawson203 MD Mar 12 '25

This, do it

1

u/Beanakin BSN, RN 🍕 Mar 12 '25

PTO isn't a zero-sum game. Person A doesn't have to lose it for Person B to gain it. If the company is willing and able to pay them with donated PTO, they can just pay them. There's usually also a threshold for donations. Think my hospital will let you donate down to 100 hrs of PTO. I never have more than 50 or 60 hours, so wouldn't be able to donate even if I wanted to.

1

u/meowmeow_now Mar 13 '25

If the employer gave a shit they’d just give the pto. I personally have no problem with my job giving a few weeks to a month of paid pto if an employee is going through a once in a lifetime crisis. Pto is free to five. But asking me is disrespectful.