VA parking no you're not an employee

[tyrionlannister00]

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[Raryn]

So our VA says we are not employees and therefore can't park in employee lot nor the main lot. If I spend 40℅ of my time here... and the VA has an agreement with our residency to have us work here. How am I not an employee?

Our VA considered us employees, thus we weren't allowed to park in any of the main lots. They had an employee lot multiple blocks away with a shuttle to the hospital. The shuttle stopped running and the lot was locked down after 5pm, so if you were on a long-shift, they expected you to somehow duck out between 4 and 5 to move your car to the (now relaxed) patient lot.

Most of us used street parking in a nearby neighborhood and trecked into the VA. Or just parked in the patient lot and hid our white coats.

 

[J ROD]

Did you get a sticker for parking? Some are more strict than others..........

 

[gutonc]

So our VA says we are not employees and therefore can't park in employee lot nor the main lot. If I spend 40℅ of my time here... and the VA has an agreement with our residency to have us work here. How am I not an employee?

Their hospital, their rules. Feel free to rage against it all you want if it makes you feel better though.

 

[backcountryrez]

Our VA considered us employees, thus we weren't allowed to park in any of the main lots. They had an employee lot multiple blocks away with a shuttle to the hospital. The shuttle stopped running and the lot was locked down after 5pm, so if you were on a long-shift, they expected you to somehow duck out between 4 and 5 to move your car to the (now relaxed) patient lot.

Most of us used street parking in a nearby neighborhood and trecked into the VA. Or just parked in the patient lot and hid our white coats.

Did they charge for parking? Ours does and the closer you are in proximity to the hospital, the monthly rates become astronomically higher.

The irony, though, is that the patient lot costs $2 per day, which is adjacent to the $110 per month employee lot.

 

[RangerBob]

You're not directly paid by the VA, which is why you're not an employee. We spend 50% of our time at the VA, but we're employees of the medical college, which is a consortium of the VA and other main hospitals we work at. Our VA lets us park in the medical staff lot, which is a bit closer than some of the other employee lots, though not as close as patient parking. Parking for us is free, and it's been free at the other 4 VA's I've rotated through in medical school/residency.

Unfortunately each VA will have their own parking policy, and as mentioned above, they set the rules.

 

[Winged Scapula]

Did they charge for parking? Ours does and the closer you are in proximity to the hospital, the monthly rates become astronomically higher.

The irony, though, is that the patient lot costs $2 per day, which is adjacent to the $110 per month employee lot.

I dunno... seems fair to me that the veterans, possibly unemployed and possibly disabled, should pay a lot less if anything at all, than the employees. Sort of like the free parking for customers in front of certain stores and restaurants. They're the reason the hospital exists.


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[Raryn]

I am personally of the opinion that parking for both patients/visitors (with a validated pass) and employees (with a badge) should be free. But that's just me. One could argue that basically just ends up being the hospital selectively subsidizing drivers rather than public transport users, but I don't care.

 

[ProfMD]

Our VA was close enough to the university that we walked over. Then again, our university parking was pretty bad too.

Careful with the VA - I am sure there are differences at different places, but the VA police at our place were very aggressive with the parking tickets.

 

[Winged Scapula]

It costs patients a lot less to park at our university hospital too than it does the employees. I agree that I don't really the "irony" in that.

What my hospital did when the VA refused to give us parking was pretty nice: the University bought a lot across the street and turned it into university parking.

Yeah, that's how you do it. I have a satellite office in a medical office building owned and managed by a local satellite "clinic". The parking lot attached to the building was city owned and they charged for parking.

The physicians complained that patients, especially those coming into the Oncology wing of the building shouldn't be charged. The hospital agreed and purchased the parking lot and now everyone can park for free (although they want employees and non-patients to park on the top of the garage which is fine except when it's 120° outside!)




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[Winged Scapula]

Our VA was close enough to the university that we walked over. Then again, our university parking was pretty bad too.

Careful with the VA - I am sure there are differences at different places, but the VA police at our place were very aggressive with the parking tickets.

Our VA was very aggressive with the speeding tickets. I understand it's a federal offense if it occurs on the property. I got pulled over once racing in but fortunately he let me go.


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[ProfMD]

It is a federal offense and if you forget to pay it you get a summons to appear in US District Court.

Or at least so I've heard...from a..."friend"

This happened to one of my co-residents. Multiple unpaid parking tickets led to a federal summons.

 

[Apollyon]

I have to be honest - I think it would be funny/borderline hilarious to see some doc, but especially a resident, be stopped on foot by a couple three US Marshals, with their round badges and the windbreaker with the big "US Marshals" on the back, for a not even misdemeanor. Extra points if the offender gets mouthy, and then gets tazed.

 

[RangerBob]

It is a federal offense and if you forget to pay it you get a summons to appear in US District Court.

Or at least so I've heard...from a..."friend"

Apparently our VA police have given out tickets for not stopping "long enough" at the stop sign. Apparently you have to come to a full stop and actually wait 2 seconds or something.

I drive like a grandma when I'm on VA property--I heard enough stories when I was a medical student so I've always been careful and yet to have get a federal ticket. From the VA that is. I got one from the Park Service--broken plate light. After giving me a fix-it ticket, the ranger chatted with me for 20 minutes when I told him I was interested in becoming a park ranger (at the time I was).

I've actually found the VA police to be very helpful--they came to let me back in when I locked myself out of the clinic workroom late at night, and they also helped me break into my car when I locked myself out of that as well. One also found my Uber driver who had gotten lost on the grounds and escorted him over to me (apparently I was in a dead zone and the app couldn't tell the driver exactly where I was).

I haven't found security at our other primary hospital to be as helpful, though they did offer to call a tow company when my car (quite literally) exsanguinated coolant on the top level of the parking structure. Otherwise they respond to code greys (or whatever color it is--maybe grey is weather-related?) just the same, except they arrive without a gun or taser, so they're just not as threatening...

 

[caffeinemia]

So our VA says we are not employees and therefore can't park in employee lot nor the main lot. If I spend 40℅ of my time here... and the VA has an agreement with our residency to have us work here. How am I not an employee?

In some places, aren't residents considered students?

 

[backcountryrez]

In some places, aren't residents considered students?

IMO, I'm going to be a student until I become a professor at my institution.

 

[URHere]

Thankfully, our VA is bootleg enough that the little entry/exit arm on the parking garage is almost constantly broken. Free parking for everyone!