Opinions, Is this illegal?

You need to make a visit to the Labor Board and deal with this. Your two other options are to put up with it (not advised) or to just find another job. Definitely illegal labor practices. I would leave.

Thanks for the heads up. This company has appeared in my former home town. I now know to stay away from them.

That sounds like Amedisys...I was paid hourly by them but was told we were the only agency in the U.S. who was.
They are a monster and desperate to conquer the home health industry.
In answer to your question, no that's wrong. WHat about all of the on-line stuff you can do from your computer at home? We became union so as not to go to pay per visit but were told it would be $75 per admission! Admissions take about 3 hours work total, the math does not add up.

I can tell you that I wouldn't work in the environment that you are in. If you want me for 8 hrs, then you pay me for 8 hrs otherwise my time is my own. The agency that I work for is really small, but we have nurses that are salaried and they are on call during business hours regardless of how many pts they have and we have nurses that are per visit and all they do is their visits and then they go home. I'm the only nurse that is hourly at my agency, but I take all the after hour call-outs and weekend SOC et ROCs.

"ALTHOUGH we are paid per visit, we were told- VERBATIM--, ' WE OWN YOU FOR 8 HOURS A DAY REGARDLESS OF THE FACT THAT YOU ARE ONLY GETTING PAID PER VISIT.""

Well! When my director came back from Florida several wks ago after a big director's meeting she had a meeting with the entire office and stated the same thing. I thought she was just having a bad day, or directing her comments to the many to get the point to a few but I guess I was wrong.
I am so busy with my day usually that I don't have a problem getting in my 8 hours. In fact my hours would run more to 10+. This is because we have so little help. No one will stay. We have a few like me that has been there for years, from back before it was Amedisys. But for the most part, when we get a new nurse, they leave for 2 reasons--worked to death cause we are so busy and as I saw in a previous post Amedisys MICROMANAGES EVERYTHING!.
Another thing I wonder about being per visit is the fact that while you are busy sitting charting and faxing and such, that is your own time having been built into the per visit rate.
And while I'm at it...if I have to hear about the proverbial bus one more time, I think i'm gonna

Hmmm.....

Interesting.

http://www.thestreet.com/story/10434...-the-mark.html

I have read this story before, as well as this link..http://www.citronresearch.com/index....sys-nasdaqamed.
I can say that I have felt pressure to change my oasis answers to reflect a different score. I have received requests to look at my answers and to " think about them in a different way" but I feel that I was the one that was in the patient home, it's my answer and I'm not changing it. It's always been wrapped in "what about this" or "do you feel that this patient can safely do this if you picked this answer" so I can see how someone without many years could question themselves.
Home health has always been about the wording. Word it one way, not billable. The other way--passes. There is a fine line and it's hard to stay on this side of it so I can see where newer nurses could wobble all over the line unintentionally.
I could go on....

You'd be better off as a greeter at Walmart! At least you'd make minimum wage!!