employment
Is it illegal for my employer to force me to lie/mislead a customer over the phone as to what type of Nurse I am and/or what my capabilities are?
<p>My employer (a major health insurance company) wants me to routinely lie to members as to what type of RN I am. I was hired to be a telehealth &quot;Advice Line Nurse&quot; providing assessments, triage and basic educational services to members over the phone. Once I quit my previous job to take the new job, I was told that I would be expected to occasionally support other Nursing departments (ie. Case Management) in a support role when they were busy. I now spend a considerable amount of my day in this &quot;support role&quot; and I am supposed to mislead the customer into thinking that I am a Case Management RN. I have no desire to be a Case Management RN and have no training or experience as a Case Management RN. I am often put in a position of failure because the member wants or legitimately needs Case Management services that I cannot provide but I will get in trouble if I let them know that I am not a Case Management Nurse. My employer even has the phone systems set up in a way that the contact phone# info left for the customer to try and reach Case Management doesn't even go to the Case Management department... its simply a generic phone# that usually connects them to my Nursing department (Advice Line). Is this legal and can I be fired for not complying? My stress levels are through the roof because I feel that I am misrepresenting my Nursing license that I worked so hard for. If I need a Plumber, I am going to be pissed if an Electrician shows up pretending to be the Plumber. What are my options?</p>

<h2>You must follow the lawful and reasonable directions of your employer</h2>
<p>As an RN you have obligations under the law that are independent of your employment. Almost certainly, one of these is not to practice in an area which you are not skilled or qualified to do so (unless you are under adequate instruction and supervision). Remember, as an RN you, personally, are legally responsible if your advice leads to harm and you were not acting reasonably. There are plenty of nurses who have gone to jail for delivering a lethal dose of medicine that was wrongly prescribed by a doctor. Even if your advice is unlikely to lead to this, you can still be deregistered - seems a waste of a lot of education just to become an Uber driver.</p>
<p>Further, most jurisdictions make it illegal to mislead or deceive in trade or commerce. This one won’t send you to jail.</p>
<p>So, it appears that the instructions are unlawful and it is not misconduct if you were to, politely, refuse them. This would not give your employer grounds to fire you. However, you should document your concerns and reach out to your union and possibly consult a lawyer.</p>
