u/CookieFirst7435

Hi, this is my first post here so I’m not sure how much attraction it will actually get. I am a fairly new RBT, I’ve bee registered for about a year and have only worked at one clinic in total. Initially I took the job at this clinic because I really liked the values they spoke about and it was one of the higher paying clinics in my area. In my year of working here, I’ve noticed a significant rift between RBT’s, BCBA’s and Admin staff. One major thing myself and other RBT’s have been talking about is how unrealistic our attendance policy is. Essentially a breakdown of it is, you get 10 total unpaid days off per year, they are split 5 and 5, so 5 during the first half and 5 during the second half. You also get PTO which seems to be a joke at this point, in the past 6 months I have only gained 14 hours of PTO. This all sounds great in theory, but for example during Flu season, we had many communicable diseases going around, Flu A & B, HFM, Impetigo, etc. I used 3 days for Flu A, (was given 2 points for leaving early even though I was ill in front of a client), after that I needed time off for HFM and was told I could only take 2 days off because that’s all the time I had left even though a medical professional had written me off longer. Yet admin staff can choose when they want to leave whenever without seemingly being pointed, BCBA’s have taken all day outings which I didn’t even know it was legal for RBT’s to operate inside a clinic without any on site BCBA’s. Another major issue we’ve all experienced is injuries (as one does as an RBT). A couple weeks ago, an RBT had communicated her injuries to admin and asked for light work duty or to be moved to an easier case load until she had recovered. Admin denied both and said “we don’t offer light work, we do not make team changes due to injuries, if you cannot complete your duties you need a doctor’s note for time off.” Earlier this week that same therapist had a client elope out of the building and into the parking lot because she could not chase after him with a broken foot, and admin had the prior knowledge that this client has not mastered safety directives and often elopes out of the building. We have also noticed a high turnover in RBT’s at my clinic for admin refusing to notify staff of communicable diseases going around the building, the awful attendance policy, and admin refusing to listen to RBT concerns when it comes to teams. At this point it feels like BCBA’s and admin have full immunity from any type of consequences and RBT’s are the only ones held accountable. I need to know if this is every clinic or if the clinic I’m working at is toxic. I truly love being an RBT and I love my kiddos but I’m not sure I can continue to be on the brink of losing my job with injuries and illnesses even when I have doctors notes.