Night shift and daylight savings....

Nurses General Nursing

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So at the hospital where I used to work, night shift does not get paid for the "extra hour" on "Fall Back" time change. They also don't get shorted the hour they don't have to work in the spring on "Spring Forward" day. So if you happened to work last night, but didn't work that day in the spring...I guess you are SOL.

How does your place handle it?

Specializes in Pedi.
Did you ask them how they thought the state department of labor would feel about that?

I did. They responded that they considered all nurses to be salaried and that they were not going to change the way they do things.

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I had no idea this was such a big deal in so many places! It seems incredibly obvious to me to PAY those who worked for the NUMBER of hours they worked, period. In the Fall you work an extra hour, oh well, that's how it is, and get PAID for it. In the Spring, it's an hour short on your shift, oh well, and DON'T get paid for it.

As for always getting the same crew back on every Daylight Savings change, that's a foolish way to plan. What if you're taking vacation time at the time you're supposed to get an "extra" hour of pay (for the hour you don't work) in the Spring? Will they still give you an extra hour of pay in your check because back in the Fall you did an hour for free? Silly and inefficient. What about the person who gets an hour's bonus pay because she worked the "right" weekend, but switches with someone for the "other" weekend?

It's just a stupid system to do it any other way than to simply pay people for the number of hours they worked.

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Specializes in ER, ICU.

That's illegal. They can't pay you for an hour you didn't work, and they can't (legally) not pay you for an hour you did. Who runs these operations anyway?

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Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.
So at the hospital where I used to work, night shift does not get paid for the "extra hour" on "Fall Back" time change. They also don't get shorted the hour they don't have to work in the spring on "Spring Forward" day. So if you happened to work last night, but didn't work that day in the spring...I guess you are SOL.

How does your place handle it?

Um WHAT? Oh HAIL NO. A call to the state wage & hour board would take care of that right quick.

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I did. They responded that they considered all nurses to be salaried and that they were not going to change the way they do things.
Oh man....I hope you filed a complaint. That's not something they can just decide as there are pretty clear rules about nonexempt vs exempt status.
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Specializes in Med/surg, Quality & Risk.
I did. They responded that they considered all nurses to be salaried and that they were not going to change the way they do things.

Your next call should be to a labor & employment lawyer. It is just ridiculous what some of us let employers get away with. Anyone who wonders why unions exist, please see here.

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If, in fact, the nurses are salaried, they get paid for a set dollar amount each week regardless of the number of hours worked. So, OP, do you get paid for 35 hours if you only work 32? If the answer is "I get paid for 32 hours if I worked 32, or 34 if I worked 34; I get paid for 42 hours--OT--if I work OT" then you are NOT salaried....and they're lying to the labor board.

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Specializes in ER, progressive care.

We get paid the extra hour. We always get paid the hours worked. Not getting paid that extra hour and management saying that it "evens out" because you lose an hour when we spring ahead is ridiculous. Not everyone works the nights we change the clocks.

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Specializes in being a Credible Source.
So at the hospital where I used to work, night shift does not get paid for the "extra hour" on "Fall Back" time change. They also don't get shorted the hour they don't have to work in the spring on "Spring Forward" day. So if you happened to work last night, but didn't work that day in the spring...I guess you are SOL.

How does your place handle it?

Easy, we follow labor law: Double time after 12 consecutive hours.
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i have always gotten paid for the extra hour in fall. only for time worked in spring.

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Specializes in Palliative.

This discussion has provided me with yet another reason Saskatchewan is better off without daylight savings time.

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Specializes in Pedi.
Oh man....I hope you filed a complaint. That's not something they can just decide as there are pretty clear rules about nonexempt vs exempt status.

I did file a complaint and spoke with a lawyer at the Attorney General's office who basically told me it wasn't worth pursuing and that his office couldn't protect my job (despite the complaint form saying that it's illegal for an employer to retaliate against an employee for making a complaint). Several hospitals in town have settled multi-million dollar lawsuits over this exact issue and I really imagine it's only a matter of time before the same law firm goes after this hospital. I was called into a meeting with a representative from HR, the director of payroll, my director and my manager. It was one of the most infuriating experiences of my professional life and this is when I got told- flat out- "we're not changing the way we do things here." I still have a binder somewhere full of their policies and things the inconsistencies within them that basically demonstrate how they consider nurses "salaried" employees when it works for them and hourly employees otherwise.

I also met with the state's nurses union with several co-workers but ended up resigning my position a few months after all this.

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