Grandview Nursing Home in Marshalltown should have a review of its staffing practices. Maybe fines should be levied or at least the administrator should be fired or jailed if there have been any clients hurt by this type of staff abuse. How is it ever acceptable to force someone to work this many hours in a day?
Tara Klein, who worked for the Grandview Heights nursing home in Marshalltown since June 2020 as a full-time registered nurse. On Sept. 15 of last year, she was working a 16-hour shift. Around 10:30 p.m. that day, her supervisor called her and told her that she would also be scheduled to work 16-hours shifts the following Saturday, Sunday and Monday.
Klein told the supervisor that she could not physically or mentally handle working that many hours or provide the residents of the home with the proper care. The supervisor allegedly hung up on Klein, and two hours later, a scheduler informed Klein she was scheduled to work the upcoming 16-hour shifts.
Klein told the scheduler it was physically impossible for her to do that, and after 19 hours on duty she went home. The next day, the home’s administrator allegedly sent Klein a series of text messages indicating that if she was not working the upcoming Saturday and Sunday shifts, the home would consider her employment to be over.
The home subsequently challenged Klein’s application for unemployment benefits. An administrative law judge ruled that the home “provided no evidence to establish misconduct on the part of Ms. Klein,” and awarded her benefits.