Hourly vs Exempt Salaries

IamRN · Jan 19, 2004

Wow, never heard of such a thing :eek: Can't wait to hear from those that have experience with this system.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jan 19, 2004

Take it from me..........being salaried SUCKS. They can (and will)ask you to work 60 hours a week, take work home, be on-call 24/7, and not pay you a dime extra for any of it. And that "comp time" they promise you somehow never materializes.

I used to have trouble feeling like a professional under the hourly wage system, but no more. Now, when I go to work, I know I'll earn an honest day's pay for an honest day's work, and if I have to stay over to finish something, I'll get paid for it. It wasn't NOT getting overtime that bothered me, it was not getting paid at all for all the hours I put in after the so-called day was over.....at one point I figured that my $48,000/yr. salary worked out to a little over thirteen bucks an hour!!

That was my reward for being greedy and being dumb, and I almost had a nervous breakdown five months into the job. Thank God, they fired me before I blew a gasket and had a stroke or worse. That's why I will NEVER work as a salaried employee again if I can at all help it.

dphrn · Jan 19, 2004

I would not work salary either, especially while on the floor. When I worked full time on the floor, I had to work 40 hours before anything after that was considered over time. If you are scheduled for three twelves, you have to work those four extra hours to equal 40 before over time kicks in. Maybe this is what you are hearing.

But no, I would not work salary on the floor as a staff nurse. The extra hours add up very quickly. One bad day or night and you can be there way over your 12 hour shift. Be sure to go directly to your nurse manager and ask all these specific questions which are in your post before making your decision.

barefootlady, ADN, RN · Jan 19, 2004

I have worked for one to two facilities that had slipshod accounting practices. Pay was always wrong, hours shorted, benefits not deducted. Learned the hard way, would not work salary as floor/charge nurse. Even if I took a "management" job I would have to have a large salary for all of the extra headaches that go with it. Nothing under 65,000.00. Just my opinion.

I would be very interested in learning more about how this facility keeps nurses. Overtime is some nurses bread and butter, I can't imagine why they would give it up unless the salaries are very, very good.

live4today, RN · Jan 19, 2004

The only way I would elect to work salary as a nurse is if a law is enacted to say after the eight or twelve hour shift is up, I would be totally off duty........like getting my coat and purse and heading for the elevator. No way would I work without being paid for it. The pay for nurses sucks as it is. The nerve of them paying salary to nurses who do shift work with no regards to paying them overtime. Shame on them!

llg, PhD, RN · Jan 19, 2004

In theory, the salary is sufficient to cover the typical work hours -- including those extra "an hour here and an hour type of thing." What you must determine is: Is that the way it works out in real life? You can only determine that by looking at the actual hours worked by the staff at that actual hospital.

How happy are the nurses who work at that hospital? If the nurses there are happy with the situation, it's probably OK. If not, then the system is probably not paying them enough to cover those extra hours.

What is the hospital's reputation? Is it considered a nice place to work? How does their turnover compare to that of other local hospitals? Do they retain a lot of nurses for at least a few years? or do nurses typically leave them after only a few months? These are the types of things I would look at to help me assess whether or not the salary system was a good deal or not.

Also, don't forget to look at the total compensation package. Too many nurses look only at the dollars per hour cash and forget to consider things like tuition benefits, retirment packages, health insurance, etc. Those things really add up in the long run and have a significant impact upon your financial security. Sometimes, the place paying the lowest cash has the best actual compensation package overall.

llg

azgirl · Jan 19, 2004

I did salary once and the comp time was always lost. I would get an innocent look and be told "didn't you already use that?" It would be scheduled a month away (I think I needed to give them six weeks notice to use comp) and by that time forgotten again. I wasn't there that long to check it out in the long run but that place called constantly for extra shifts to add to the comp.

sjoe · Jan 19, 2004

Originally posted by pumpkin
I am a new grad and I recently received a job offer from a hospital where nurses are salaried and not paid by the hour. I have never heard of this and was rather confused regarding pay. I was told that in order to qualify for overtime pay you have to work 4 hours extra. But I don't know one nurse that ever gets out on time so I don't want to get screwed if I consistently work 1 hour extra every shift but don't get paid for it. Also, does that mean there's no holiday pay? I must be missing something.B]

You seem to have it figured out correctly. I doubt that you are missing anything.

pumpkin · Jan 19, 2004

I understand that being an exempt employee leaves the issues such as overtime compensation and comp time up to the hospital and their management's adherence to their own policies. However, since this hospital is in Boston where there are other world renowned hospitals (also facing nursing shortages) literally across the street from this one, I'm assuming (for the moment), that this particular hospital does adhere to its policies. My question is more about what types of policies (regarding comp time, overtime, etc) other hospitals that follow salary practices have.

And while this is an exempt position, they pay with hourly based rates meaning that I would get a differential; for example, if I take a day/night rotating position I will get the night differential regardless of whether I work day or night. Also, they don't have mandatory overtime here. I'm more interested in learning about the pitfalls/benefits of being a salaried nurse.

They have an excellent new grad training program, and the floor is exactly what I want to work in. I wouldn't mind getting a little less pay, since I would have no problem quitting and getting another job immediately at another hospital. I just want to make sure I understand everything clearly. I'll definitely contact the nurse manager about my questions, since the HR person doesn't seem to know much about it.

purplemania, BSN, RN · Jan 19, 2004

Iwould not work salary on the floor. As for the "overtime", I have never worked anywhere where you earned overtime for working less than 40 hours. Our staff nurses are scheduled for 36, but if they work over it is on straight time until over 40.

Long Term Care Columnist / Guide · Jan 20, 2004

That's terrible. Whatever our schedules---part-time or full-time, 8 hours or 12 hours---we're paid OT for anything over our normal workday. Presently I work 3 8-hour shifts/week; anything over that is overtime. If I get called for an extra 4-hour or 8-hour shift, that too is overtime as long as I've worked all my scheduled shifts in that week.

Frankly, I think I've got the best of all possible worlds, thanks to our nurses' union........I'm not much of an activist at work, as I've always been treated fairly by this organization and as long as that holds true, I don't get involved in the politics; but I am grateful for union representation because it keeps the corporate people honest, plus our wages are among the best in this area.

Again, I reiterate that there is no way in God's green earth that I would go back to salaried status as a nurse........it's already too easy for Big Business to abuse nurses as it is, and slavery was abolished in 1863!!