Holiday Pay-- Anyone else heard of this??

Nurses General Nursing

Published

I've been at my new job since mid April and tomorrow will be my first holiday to work. All the floor staff is required to work every other holiday, and holidays worked is time and a half for pay. Holidays off are not paid anything. I am a full time NOC nurse. Our shift is 10-6 and sometimes 11-7. Holidays are the night of. I am just finding out through other NOC staff that those that are scheduled to work the holiday are only paid time and a half up until midnight and then paid their regular wage. The night staff that work the night before the holiday are paid time and a half from midnight till 0600 or whenever they punch out, regardless of whether or not it's their holiday to work! I've never heard if this before! I don't understand how the night of July 4th is my holiday to work but I'm only going to be paid two hours worth of holiday pay?! That does not seem fair or even legal! If the whole shift is my holiday to work than I should be paid holiday pay for the entire shift worked, right?!

Specializes in ICU.

We don't get holiday pay. We don't get PTO, either. We are paid extra every week instead of that. We don't take turns with holidays. If a holiday falls on your regularly scheduled day to work, so be it; you work that day. I really prefer it this way. I enjoy having X amount of money added to my check every week. No favoritism, no bickering. You can plan your vacations a year ahead this way, you automatically know which holidays you will be working as our shifts don't change.

Specializes in Emergency.

Correct me if I'm wrong, I think the OP's frustration is that they are required to work every other holiday and the "holiday shift" that fulfills the requirement is the one that only pays 2hrs holiday pay as opposed to the previous night which gets 6hrs. I think the OP would be less annoyed if the shift that allowed her to fulfill her required holiday shift was the previous night one.

I'm guessing the current way leaves her having to give up the day to sleep and she only gets compensated fractionally for missing the holiday. Yet the night before nurses get 3x the holiday diff hours and if they're off the next night can participate in the holiday at some level. (At least that's how nights have always worked out in our family)

It does logically and suck but it's not an uncommon practice these days :/

Specializes in CCRN.
Correct me if I'm wrong, I think the OP's frustration is that they are required to work every other holiday and the "holiday shift" that fulfills the requirement is the one that only pays 2hrs holiday pay as opposed to the previous night which gets 6hrs. I think the OP would be less annoyed if the shift that allowed her to fulfill her required holiday shift was the previous night one.

I'm guessing the current way leaves her having to give up the day to sleep and she only gets compensated fractionally for missing the holiday. Yet the night before nurses get 3x the holiday diff hours and if they're off the next night can participate in the holiday at some level. (At least that's how nights have always worked out in our family)

It does logically and suck but it's not an uncommon practice these days :/

That was what caused the frustration with our night shift nurses and why they came up with the idea that the nurses working the holiday would work both the eve and night of. Then they get both the eve of and night of the holidays off that they are not working.

Specializes in Med Surg.

A day is 24 hours. July 4th starts and ends at midnight. If you are working during July 4th, you get holiday pay. If you are working on July 3rd or 5th, you get regular pay.

You are not paid for your perceived inconveniences, you are paid for the time you work. This is perfectly legal and fair. I have a coworker doing consecutive 12 hour nights 1900-0700 on July 3rd and 4th. She gets 12 hours of holiday pay. Would you rather she was denied holiday pay on July 4th from 0000 to 0700?

Another way to think about it (and nurses rarely try to think this way) is that if you work nights on July 4th, you were able to enjoy the holiday during the day (because you didn't work the night before). If you worked nights on July 3rd, you were sleeping for much of it and were compensated accordingly.

Specializes in Med Surg.
I've only worked three places, but the policy has been exactly the same as OP is describing at all three places. You are only paid time and a half on the hours that you work on the holidays themselves, from midnight to midnight. I never knew it was different other places!

Yep, and further, night nurses at my employer get a higher differential and additional vacation days to make up for the injustices of night work.

But when holidays come up, they tend to completely forget the benefits above and wail about how unfair it is.

Me: "But you are compensated for that unfairness the entire rest of the year with the added benefits.."

Them: "I DON'T CARE!"

sigh.

I wouldn't have been paid anything for Memorial Day if my employer either paid holiday pay the night before or the the night of since it was my holiday off. What I'm saying is that between the other NOC nurse and I we've each worked a holiday (after tonight) since May, but because she was scheduled the NOC before she will receive 14 hours of holiday pay whereas I will receiver 2. Same amount of holiday shifts, definitely not the same amount of paid time. And I'm not sure what copius time off is to you but one additional night is not a lot if you ask me. I still worked Memorial Day weekend. And I don't normally complain about having to work holidays, I knew from day one that weekends and holidays come with the territory. What's upsetting is that while I'm required to work a full "holiday" shift I will only be compensated with holiday pay for two of those hours. Why they didn't make the night before a holiday the "holiday" shift is beyond me. And what I meant by it being legal or not is the fact that it's stated in the handbook and benefits package that all floor staff are required to work every other holiday and will be paid time and a half for working their holiday. An employer can't say they're going to pay you x amount of dollars per hour and then actually pay you less, I would think a stated holiday pay would be the same...

Specializes in Critical Care, Med-Surg, Psych, Geri, LTC, Tele,.

My 2 cents: I'm a new grad and am happy to be working at all. Yes I'm working nocs this 4th of July holiday. Not even thinking I'll get OT since I am per diem.

I might feel different if I was FT and had experience though. I might resent not having OT.

Specializes in Gerontology RN-BC and FNP MSN student.

I feel really grateful. We got paid double time for twelve hours today. Days of course. I think it works the way OP described everywhere I've ever worked though.

I just recently started to understand this concept of holiday pay. I don't get too frazzled about it. When its my holiday to work, I work. What I don't like about Holidays, is that co-workers with kids, think they are entitled to have holidays off. I don't have kids, but I have a mom, brother, niece, husband, that I can spend the holiday with. That's the only thing about holidays that I don't like.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
It wouldn't balance out in the end though. Just because I have every other holiday off doesn't mean I'll be working the night before on those days, I would only be scheduled to work the day before if it was a regularly scheduled shift. Case in point, Memorial Day was my holiday off as was the night before so I didn't receive any holiday pay. I am off tonight but work tomorrow which is my holiday but will only get 2 hours worth of holiday pay. One of the other NOC nurses worked the night before Memorial Day as well as Memorial Day, she also works tonight. So she will have received 14 hours of holiday pay where as I will have received 2. Come Labor Day she'll have 22 hours and I will still only have 2. How is that right?

In my 14+ years of nursing I have never encountered this before. Holiday NOC shifts were either the night before or the night of, depending on the facility, if the holiday was the night before than everyone working that shift was paid holiday pay, anyone working the night of was paid straight pay because it was no longer the holiday. And if the holiday was the day of than anyone working the night before was paid their regular time and everyone working the night of was paid holiday pay.

if it's my holiday to work but I'm only going to get holiday pay until midnight than I should be able to punch out and go home at midnight since by their theory it's no longer the holiday.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to rant but this really ticks me off. I have a family and young kids, if I have to sacrifice my time with them to work holidays than I should be compensated just the same as the nurses who work the other two shifts. It's BS.

OK, it's not your preferred method of compensation and you don't like it. That other nurse figured out how to work the system to her advantage. Now you know, too. You're not going to change the system, so you might as well figure out how to work it -- or don't work those hours and savor having the whole holiday off.

Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
I

if it's my holiday to work but I'm only going to get holiday pay until midnight than I should be able to punch out and go home at midnight since by their theory it's no longer the holiday.

I'm sorry, I don't mean to rant but this really ticks me off. I have a family and young kids, if I have to sacrifice my time with them to work holidays than I should be compensated just the same as the nurses who work the other two shifts. It's BS.

Your young kids have nothing to do with this argument. I hate it when nurses keep dragging "But I have young kids!" into an argument about scheduling or pay. Great for you that you have kids, and aren't you lucky. But you made the choice; no one else should be forced or even asked to disaccomodate themselves because YOU chose to procreate.

Specializes in MDS/ UR.

My employer has a PTO bucket that you earn over the course of a year. You can pay yourself holiday pay otherwise you get straight time.

+ Add a Comment