Theft of Time Accusations

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hockeypaul81

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I’m a young EMT-B(Soon to be EMT-I) and I work for a large private EMS company on a 9-1-1 truck at a remote station. I’ve been with the company for 14 months now and I have never been in trouble or reprimanded for anything whatsoever. Here is what happened and why they are accusing me of theft of time.

1) I show up for my shift at 0645(my partner isn’t there yet and the other crew is on a call so no one is there to verify that) but I forget to clock in until about 1700. We use a phone system to clock in as well as a paper time card as a back up that we fax to HR at the end of our shift.
2) I normally fill out my time card at some point during my shift with whatever my IN time was and my OUT time of 0700 the next morning. This didn’t seem problematic since I had every intention of staying for the duration of my shift.
3) I begin to get sick 1st with sporadic diarrhea for about 3 hrs and then it kind of subsided, we catch a call and it flares back up at the ER. Once back at the station the diarrhea is coupled with violent vomiting. I ask my partner to make a call to have someone come in and cover for me and he does.
4) Once it finally subsides again I clock out thinking my relief will be there in 5-10 minutes since he only lives 4 streets away from the station...it took him 40 minutes to get there. Once he showed up I faxed in my time card and left(about 0200). Only thinking about how bad I felt and how much I wanted to go home and not correcting the time on my time card.
5) The problem with this is that when I faxed in my time card it still had an OUT time of 0700...not 0117 which is what HR said was in the computer system as my out time.

I pride myself on my character and my honesty and for them to accuse me of this really upsets me because I try not to mislead or lie to people as much as possible.
I’m scared for my job at this point and I was wondering if anyone could offer me any insight on how to deal with an HR dept that doesn’t know me from a hole in the wall. They don’t see "me"; they just see another nameless, faceless employee. They don’t know how good of a person and employee I am. In retrospect I realize that I made a couple of mistakes but what they don’t realize is that I have done nothing but right by them since I started working there. There are a lot of new faces at the main office and only one of them knows me, luckily he is the big dog and if I do get fired and appeal their decision I get to talk to him.

This is all just an honest mistake that I know now I will have to look out for if I ever leave a shift early again.
Any advice on how to handle the situation and get them to see my side of the story when they call me back in would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
 
just tell them the truth and hope for the best I guess..

Does anyone know why HR people make so much money. Correct me if I'm wrong, but they have a job any Joe Citizen off the street could do with a week of orientation. They're secretarys at best and yet many make 6 figure salaries. The HR manager at the company I work for makes a 6 figure salary. He's not a lawyer or CPA or Statistician or CEO or business manager of any type. The one thing he is good at is sitting in his huge office and finding out ways to make our lives miserable. He's like a really crappy secretary who hates us and tries to screw us over every chance he gets. If I'm wrong about this, please correct me.
 
...thanks....i guess.....:unsure:
 
Ok, this is what you do..go out and hire the best lawyer money can buy. Then hire a team of expert private investigators. Then hire some roughneck to go to the accusers home and threaten his family at gunpoint. If all else fails, sue the company for personal injury or discrimination.
 
geez....

I was just looking for something besides someone badmouthing HR...no matter how true it may be.
 
Moved to appropriate forum
 
Guardian said:
just tell them the truth and hope for the best I guess..

Does anyone know why HR people make so much money.
Click to expand...

Probably because they have no soul and will turn around and lie to you and stab you in the back of the neck at the first opportunity if it'll protect the company. Slime!
 
hockeypaul81 said:
This is all just an honest mistake that I know now I will have to look out for if I ever leave a shift early again.
Any advice on how to handle the situation and get them to see my side of the story when they call me back in would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!!
Click to expand...

The best thing that you can do is simply to be honest and explain everything that happened - and hope your partner will back you up!
 
fm_emt said:
Probably because they have no soul and will turn around and lie to you and stab you in the back of the neck at the first opportunity if it'll protect the company. Slime!
Click to expand...

Yeah I'm with FM and Guardian on this one...HR people virtually have no usefulness to a company whatsoever. When I did work at Blue Shield and I needed HR for something, guess what? Yup, they were never in their office. I don't know what they do all day (besides harassing employees apparently) but they're not doing their job, that's for damn sure.

What's funny is I asked my supervisor one time what it'd take for me to get a HR job. It appears all you need is a bachelor's degree in anything, no experience, and yeah you make about six figures. Not a bad gig if you don't want to work for a living.
 
Hmm,, A couple of things.

First, you did not clock in appropriately. Not only by one method but two methods. Now, there is nothing yet been formally from HR ? As well, do you not report to supervisor or have witness from your partner when true shift change occurred ? The other is how would they justify who was on the unit at that time ?

Personally, I would contact and discuss it with a HR representative. I do not see a clear picture of this, as well as it usually takes more than one offense to be in "real" trouble. Personally, I would have attempted to take OTC med and pursued with the shift, but that is your right.

Understandingly, large company with HR sometimes can be non personal, they as well as every other person has an important role. If we in EMS required formal education, we too would make the salary we deserve. Knowing and making sure the standards and regulations are enforced and adhered to is not always easy. HR is usually more on the side of the employee to make sure that the employee receives the benefits that they are entitled to.

I would start a paper trail and be sure to document all statements and time. Good luck with your dilemma.

R/r 911
 
Everyone makes mistakes, and it looks like you made a few. The problem isn't with HR, but that you work for a huge national EMS company. I'd see if a supervisor could help you out with this.
 
If you have a Union contact them. If not then let your Supervisor know what happened. Tell the truth. If you have no record then No problem. There had to be someone that said you could go and knows that you were sick. I would get that person involved. Good Luck with It.
 
I did have someone there with me at all times that witnessed everything except when i showed up for my shift...my partner wasnt there yet and the other crew was on a call.
As for taking OTC meds....pepto didnt do the trick and being stationed in a town of 1500 people 20 min from the nearest OPEN drug store that wasnt really an option. I have involved supervisors but they told me that they techniclly they cant talk to me since it is being invertigated. What the did tell me is that it is BS since they know me and that they dont think i would do somethin like that so if worse comes to worse atleast I have them on my side as well as my partner, my relief and an old partner that keeps telling me our regular customers(on the transfer side) keep askin whre im at and why im not wokring with her anymore....so i suppose some strong comments like those from multiple supervisiors, my current partner and an ex partner wouldnt hurt. the only problem with Texas is that it is an "At Will' state and you can be fired for breathing in the wrong direction.
I have been proactive though. I wrote a very detailed, articulate page and a half letter that im going to submit to HR tomorrow when i go in to talk to them, that havent called me in....im just gonna go in. Hopefully they will see it for what it was...an honest mistake.
also...no union
 
Good luck, I do wonder why Supervisors are hiding their heads in the sand. Sounds like a cop out..

Hopefully, things will blow over.. and nothing will become of it. We all learn over mistakes and things we would never do again.

R/r 911
 
You keep on saying that you don't have a wittness for when you got in... Did you see your partner when they arrived? If you did, you at least have a wittness that you were there when your partner got there... yeah, maybe you don't get paid for 15 minutes... it stinks, but you learn a lesson.

Good luck with HR. I, too, work in an At-Will state... I work per diem for a "large, national ambulance company" - perhaps the same one you work for. I once had a schedule change at the last minute with my full-time job and was unable to work a scheduled shift 2 days before the shift. My boss told me that if I couldn't be in, I'd have to quit... He left me a voicemail about turing in my uniforms... I came down and spoke with my HR person... who actually DOES know my name, even though I've only ever seen her a handful of times. She wasn't aware that I was being forced to resign - in fact, she didn't know about the situation at all... I gave her a well-worded letter to my supervisor, basically saying that I wanted to keep working for them, but that I needed to have limits on my schedule, as it was only per diem and I was working 50 hours a week at my full time job. She told me that she'd "straighten it out" and my supervisor never mentioned the incident again... I have been MUCH more careful about what availibility I give him for my schedule, so that I always have at least 1 weekend off a month. I still work for the company.
 
Explain, apologize and hope for the best. There's no reason for you to get fired over this.

Good luck!
 
Sorry I forgot to update y'all.....written warning and they docked my PTO for the rest of that shift, 7 hrs...big whoop.
The kicker though....a medic on a different shift at my station got called on the carpet for a similar issue. I'll be damned if he didnt get a slap on the wrist and told to watch when he clocks in/out.
Guess I should just get my red patch...apparently immunity from punishment is a fringe benefit of being a paramedic where i work.
 
there are a couple of good points in this thread, first of all....yes, paramedics can get away with quite a bit. Secondly, yes, HR and timekeepers can be quite the A$%holes. but think of it like this, the people whose responsibility it is to keep track of all the hours and who gets paid what have their own jobs on the line if they screw up. I work for a non-for-profit that has a "position control analyst"....from what i can tell she is a timekeeper. She keeps track of peoples hours and what their doing and all that. HR doesnt do that stuff. Just keep in mind they have a job, and in a large company its hard to keep track, so they have a system, and when that system gets disrrupted they have a hard time working it out. So they tend to be pretty anal about everything.
 
Glad you were able to maintain your position. As well, welcome to real life! Not all Paramedics get away with stuff, but yes as I said real life. The same with physicians that don't have to pay for meals, but other employees do. When I questioned an administrator why the highest paid people get all the "free stuff", he informed me that he would gladly give me free food, when I start admittting patients and make money for the hospital.... lesson learned, those that make the $$$ for the company are more tolerated than others.

R/r 911
 
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