My coworker is stealing

[anonomous]

My coworker is essentially stealing. She stays nearly an hour late everyday for overtime. This would not be unusual but we work in a setting where staying late is blatantly unnecessary. She has no reason to stay late every day and purposely puts off her work til the last minute. It really bothers me. She spends the entire shift wasting time so she can have something to do right before she is supposed to leave. I’m not about to compromise my job by saying anything but drives me crazy.

[been there,done it]

Are you sure you're not rationalizing your need to butt in her business? Let it go, if she's doing something wrong then she will have to answer at some point. For your own sanity, focus on your work.

This is far from butting into her business.

OP feels time and money is being "stolen" from the employer.

Ethically, she is required to act . Most employers would hold her accountable for ignoring the issue.

As professionals, we can't ignore obvious waste, fraud or abuse.

[liberated847]

This is far from butting into her business.

OP feels time and money is being "stolen" from the employer.

Ethically, she is required to act . Most employers would hold her accountable for ignoring the issue.

As professionals, we can't ignore obvious waste, fraud or abuse.

I understand but what the OP described is far from obvious "abuse". Clearly you know the difference between diverting meds for example and someone a little disorganized (at best) causing that person to stay over time. The OP didn't even know that any wrong doing was even happening. All I'm saying is that we do not have enough evidence to advice anyone to disrupt someone's life over her perceived abuse.

[wellcoachRN]

I am certain that management would eventually take notice. One hospital I worked for took care of the problem by creating a time management for nurses class for nurses who had this problem. I never had that issue. I value my time off too much!

[nursel56]

I reported a co-worker for stealing many moons ago. He was stealing surgical instruments and re-selling them as drug paraphernalia (hemostats). I don't see this as the same thing. I don't really see how the employer sanctioning the OP for not reporting waste would hold water based on the fact that the employee in question supplies the "report" herself every time she fills out a time sheet.

The employer already knows the individual claims an hour of overtime every shift. For the fraud charge to be valid, the OP would have to prove her co-workers time-management skills were so poor she must be doing it willfully. That is a very sticky topic for most of us who are grappling with it ourselves every time we go to work and get a heavy assignment.

However, anonomous if you are genuinely fearing for your job I guess you should talk it over with someone. We don't know the particulars of your job (ie what type of culture it has, how large or small it is, etc). I can see a case where your individual details might make me change my original opinion, but it wouldn't be appropriate for you to put so much out on a public board.

[MECO28, BSN, RN]

I would also like to add that you may not know the whole story. Perhaps your coworker is clocking out and finishing her charting to avoid the wrath of management. She may know she has a time management problem and is working on it. If it doesn't affect patient safety, don't butt in. And if you do butt in, you'd better make sure your own affairs are in order. Glass houses and all...