Manager denies injured nurse working light duty, despite receiving multiple doctors' notes about her torn Achilles injury, nurse ends up further injuring herself on a shift: 'Surely this manager is responsible?'

Author image for Emma Saven
Emma Saven
Dec 16, 2025 10:00 AM EST

Well, that's bound to hit a guilty nerve…After all, it's technically the manager's fault for denying her nursing employee light-duty work after she announced her Achilles injury…When you hurt yourself, doctors will normally tell you to get some rest, not run marathons around the hospital you work at, so you can reach all your patients…Because that will most likely lead to worsening your injury! But this manager seemed to take her chances regarding her employee's limits. Limits that now leave her limping around, searching for her very own nurse. 

It's not as if the manager wasn't warned either, she received not one, not two, but multiple doctors' notes regarding the state of her employee's foot. Will choosing to ignore this information put her job on the line…? Because not only was this one nurse affected, but many of her coworkers are feeling uneasy about their manager's 'unethical' choices. Because last time we checked, a hospital is a place that's meant to heal the injured, not contribute to breaking them further…

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  • Either this manager needs to have a serious conversation with HR regarding her ‘management techniques’ or needs to take some real accountability for her actions towards those who seek her guidance. Health should always come before work performance, even when it comes to doctors and nurses…

  • A doctor and nurse looking at a patients results and records
    via gettysignature

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • Co-worker tore her already injured Achilles tendon on the clock after being denied light duty for months

    I'm totally at a loss here. i feel helpless. i feel like I have to do something but I don't know where to start.
    via ArcNzym3
  • 6 months ago, my co-worker was playing with her kid (off the clock) and twisted her ankle and tore her Achilles tendon in the process.
    via ArcNzym3
  • this was confirmed by her practitioner. my co-worker (29F) is a phlebotomist and her life is one long stretch of endless trauma and barely treading the poverty line.
    via ArcNzym3
  • she has had no health insurance because she doesn't make enough to pay for the employee benefits that our hospital offers.
    via ArcNzym3
  • despite multiple doctors notes, her manager has completely disregarded and denied my coworker from being on light duty.
    via ArcNzym3
  • she is a bedside phlebotomist, so there's lots of walking on her daily job duty. she has been walking nonstop despite her injury for the last six months due to this manager denying her that light duty work early on.
    via ArcNzym3
  • Nurse caring for a patient and holding her arm gently
    via afloimages

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • today my coworker claims she felt a pop in that injured foot on the job and used her phlebotomy supplies cart as a walker to help stabilize her so she could limp back to the lab.
    via ArcNzym3
  • she is in terrible pain. surely this manager is responsible for something unethical here. this is wrong on so many levels.
    via ArcNzym3
  • i don't know where to go or what to do that will meaningfully improve my coworker's situation.
    via ArcNzym3
  • what can i do? this is an Indiana hospital, we are a "right to work" state
    via ArcNzym3
  • PhoneFresh7595 its workers comp for her
    via PhoneFresh7595
  • OP ArcNzym3 that's what it should be... but i am certain that this manager is going to make this very difficult for her to obtain. i am very concerned for her well being
    via ArcNzym3
  • DazzlingPotion If you're in the US there should be a poster (hanging near the time clock or in a common area where employees can see it) with the name of the workmen's comp insurance company and the policy number. She should also find a good workmen's comp attorney. If her boss won't file a claim then your friend should contact HR and ask them to file it.
    via DazzlingPotion
  • Pain when Archilles heel is touched
    via gettyimages

    Image is representative only and does not depict the actual subjects of the story.

  • OP ArcNzym3 will keep that in mind... they (manager and HR) didn't file for her 6 months ago because she hadn't been injured on the clock, or so they argued.
    via ArcNzym3
  • PWal501 Aggravation of a pre-existing issue is compensable in workers comp. File a claim asap.
    via PWal501
  • OP ArcNzym3 you think a pro-bono could take care of this to some extent? i don't think she's able to afford a lawyer outright
    via ArcNzym3
  • PhoneFresh7595 She needs to get a Employment lawyer and you need to be a witness. Corporate will throw the manger to the wolves. Pity she wasn't in a union
    via PhoneFresh7595
  • Cheezburger Image 10587351296
    via Altruistic_Yellow387
  • OP ArcNzym3 unfortunately, in her living situation, it doesn't really matter, even a charge more than a couple hundred dollars would drown her for months. usually these things are in the thousands and that's before the anesthesia and surgeon's time become a factor
    via ArcNzym3
  • RedditReader4031 Aren't those roles already staffed? What happens to the people already working those positions?
    via RedditReader4031
  • OP ArcNzym3 hahaha they SHOULD already be staffed. but my hospital likes using a "leaner" model where they just don't have dedicated staff for those roles and they expect all their 5-minute "trained" to magically know how to do, then they get surprised when things are ordered wrong, go missing, etc. tbf, they just don't care here.
    via ArcNzym3

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medical-leave archilles nurse injury mobility light-work
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