Can they make me stay at the hospital without pay?

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

I've lived in Florida now for about two years. To date I've been fortunate to escape the obligatory A/B list duty of staying at the hospital before or after a hurricane (and it's looking like Irene may miss us this time). However, I made the comment at work of "at least if we have to stay here we will get "on call" pay". I was told by a nurse who has been here many years telling me that she once had to stay at the hospital for two days before her shift, but didn't get a nickle extra. Now, I understand the whole "mandatory" aspect of staying before or after a major storm event for public safety reasons, but doesn't the law require them to pay us something? Are there any "nurse lawyers" out there who can speak to the legality of this practice? In my case, since we only have one vehicle it would mean leaving my significant other at a poorly constructed rental (a typical central florida vacation home) with my son (or worse still if we both happened to be on shift with his overnight babysitter), and not even getting extra pay.

[FancypantsRN]

It depends... I worked in one central Florida hospital that you got double time the entire time you were there. Only the "hurricane team" would work. Plenty signed up for that.

Another central Florida hospital, it was the A/B team. Yes you had to stay after your 12 hr shift with no pay (A team). Their rationale was that it would not be deemed safe for you to leave. They said you had to stay and sleep off the clock after your shift. Once it was deemed safe, the B team would be on their way. I thought it was bull as well to not get paid, I can understand the streets not being open, so you can't feasibly leave but they still should compensate you.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

Check your union contract. If you aren't covered by a union the workplace should have PP regarding the subject ... no one works for free

[johnny depp23]

"In regards to Santiago, did you call for the code red..." YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENED? "I WANT THE TRUTH!" YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH

[canesdukegirl, BSN, RN]

"In regards to Santiago, did you call for the code red..." YOU WANNA KNOW WHAT HAPPENED? "I WANT THE TRUTH!" YOU CAN'T HANDLE THE TRUTH

Johnny-what does your post have to do with the OP's situation/question? I am truly confused.

[caroladybelle, BSN, RN]

As far as I know, you have to get paid for the hours that you WORK. So if you are working those hour, you will get paid for them.

As far as sleeping, at the facility and getting paid for off hours spent there, it depends on state law, but under federal law, no, they don't have to pay for those nonworking hours. Though, many facilities do indeed provide some type of compensation for those hours, it is not required to.

Having said that, one of the expectations of health care providers, is that when you work for a 24/7 facility in an area prone to inclimate weather, is that you must report to work, barring major unexpected issues beyond one's control. This means monitoring weather conditions periodically and making arrangements to either stay nearby or at the facility, if it will not be safe to come all the way from home in bad weather.

If you live on the East coast, you are reasonably expected to make it to work or stay nearby, barring serious issues.

In 2/10, two back to back snow storms hit the DC/MD, dumping over 4 ft of snow in about 5 days. Typical snowfall for that area is max 20-22 inches for an entire year and snowplows were breaking under the strain. Despite the fact that this was above and beyond the scope of normal bad weather, a number of DC nurses got fired at a union facility in Washington DC. Yes, the roads in many areas were closed, but they, in most cases were warned ahead of time about the weather, and could have made arrangements for staying on site/nearby.

Is this fair? Do I agree with it? No. But by the same token, hospitals have to stay open, and all staffers have families/SOs/ homes/parents to take care of.

In 2004, a large number of nurses in facilities on the coast of FL were fired for not reporting for duty during the hurricanes that year. For-profit hospitals are notorious, and as you well know, Rick Scott (HCA) is the governor.

So, they really can't "force" you to do anything, but they can fire you for not getting to work.

[nerdtonurse?, BSN, RN]

I've stayed over between shifts during ice storms. Was worried that there would be a tree go thru the house or something, but made "Plan a, plan b, plan c" arrangements with neighbors if something happened to the house and the family and animals needed somewhere to go (and we were their place to go if something happened to their house). It was creepy to sleep at work, but the load was fairly light as the docs DC'd everyone they could, and the ambulances couldn't get to a lot of the "got drunk and fell down" frequent flyers. It wasn't horrible, I worked my shift, clocked out, went to set aside empty rooms, took a shower, slept, got up, got ready for work, clocked in and did the next shift, and nobody made me work for free. It beat what happened to a coworker, who totaled her car on the way home because she wasn't going to "work for free."

[rjflyn, ASN, RN]

The facility I worked had the plan set up where it allows for one to have their family at the hospital there with them in a disaster i.e. hurricane or pandemic flu. The thought behind it was if their present with you, you are less likely to worry. Beyond that a certain point in the plan the local authorities i.e. law enforcement get involved and does not allow anybody to leave the area anyway.

[tyvin, BSN, RN]

With us we carry a state id card that puts us through the lines if national guard are on the scene ... everyone is encouraged to come in when a disaster strikes.

[chicookie, BSN, RN]

That's a very good question. I know that me have three teams that everyone has to sign up for. A- Before the storm. B- during the storm. C-after the storm. From what I am being told any hour we are there we get regular pay unless we work more than 40 hrs that week then it goes into overtime. I live in Northeast Florida and have never had to deal with this. *shrugs*

(Is it bad that I kind of wanted Irene a bit closer because I was looking forward to a day off. O_o)

[diva rn, BSN, RN]

Johnny-what does your post have to do with the OP's situation/question? I am truly confused.

He seems to be doing a lot of this in other posts...think "flight of ideas".

it is also addressed on the allnurses questions thread...with other solutions.

[myoglobin, ASN, BSN, MSN]

They could fire me for not going in? Okay, I understand that it is an employment at will state, but they wouldn't fire me if I didn't go to work due to illness or for drinking too much and being too sleepy to go into work (I don't drink, but that's not the point). It would be an "occurence" for calling into work so why would it be any different during a hurricane, snow storm et al. Common sense would dictate that one would call in and say something to the effect of "I'm sick and cannot come into work" rather than "I am refusing to come into work because you will keep me there or because I fear my family will be harmed in the storm while I'm there".