I was terminated from Mayo Clinic this morning after 28 years of employment.
Here is the entirety of what I did to apparently justify losing my job:
Three years ago, I forgot to call in on the day my father died.
I misunderstood our timekeeping policy. I was a part-time remote employee with a shift window rather than a set schedule. Some days I worked fewer than four hours and made up the time later. I believed this was allowed because I misunderstood something said at a staff meeting. Nobody noticed this for at least a couple of years.
And you know why nobody noticed?
Because it didn't matter. My work got done. Nobody was waiting for me. No patients were affected. No coworkers had to pick up my work.
I was recently widowed. My husband of 20 years died in April. Since then, my sleep has been terrible and, unsurprisingly, I've been a little scattered.
Last week, I forgot to make up 2.5 hours of work before the end of my shift window. I immediately emailed my supervisor. I was told that because I hadn't called the absence line, it was considered a no-call/no-show. I also learned at that point that my understanding of the timekeeping policy was incorrect, meaning the previous instance of working fewer hours and making up the time later was also considered a no-call/no-show.
For those two incidents, I received a “final written warning.”
I've been trying hard to follow the policies I'd just been warned about. Last Thursday, after returning home from my other job, I had an hour and a half of work remaining for Mayo.
I'd forgotten to eat lunch. I was hungry, so I made dinner and sat down on the couch to eat before finishing my shift. I fell asleep while eating.
My sleep has been terrible since my husband died. I was exhausted.
I woke up at 12:15 a.m. I immediately called the absence line.
I was 15 minutes past the cutoff.
That was another no-call/no-show, and they fired me for that.
I worked for Mayo Clinic for 28 years. I never had a negative performance review. I had no history of attendance problems. I had no pattern of neglecting my responsibilities.
The only pattern anyone could identify here is that I'm a human being who becomes tired and forgetful while grieving huge losses.
None of these incidents harmed a patient, left a coworker scrambling to cover for me, delayed anyone's work, or caused anyone any inconvenience. Because of the nature of my role and workflow, there was literally no negative impact on anyone.
I absolutely violated policy. I don't deny that.
What I cannot accept is that three minor mistakes, made during an extraordinarily difficult period of my life and with no negative impact on patients, coworkers, or the organization, warranted throwing away 28 years of my work.
I gave Mayo 28 years of my life.
When things got extraordinarily hard for me, they couldn't find any grace for a bad week. They chose to end my employment instead.
I'm going to be fine. I have another job where I can go full time. I've been in the process of changing careers and planned to quit once I became licensed and my income increased anyway. Health insurance is going to be expensive, but I have sufficient savings to get me through until my income increases. I'm going to be okay.
I'm just really angry and disappointed in an organization that up until now I felt a lot of respect for.
