Urgent Mandate Question

Nurses Safety

Published

Good morning fellow nurses! I have an inquiry that I'd like advice on as soon as possible. I am a nurse for a home health agency in NYS -- I have been employed here over a year full time on one case. It is a 24 hour case, quadriplegic, in need of straight cathing every 4-5 hours and PRN.

Mandates occur very often, but last night, was very out of the ordinary. My shift began at 10:45am, and was due to end at 11:00pm. At 9:30pm, I received a text from the Admin stating the night nurse called off at 8pm and he was trying to get coverage for me. This was unsuccessful, and I was forced to work until 7am, bringing my shift total to 20.25 hours. Aside from feeling very unsafe and physically exhausted, I want to know what the ramifications are here for the employer. They are refusing to pay me Emergency / Crisis pay, even though the only legal way they could have mandated me that long in NYS is for a PATIENT EMERGENCY (ie. no possible solution for the patient other than me staying). The Admin. tried until 12 midnight to find coverage, to no avail.

I am demanding my overtime rate for the entire shift, and/OR a Crisis Pay incentive, so far both of which are being declined. What are my rights here as a licensed nurse? What steps can I take to get the compensation I deserve? I have already emailed the head of HR in the agency, and CC'ed the Admin. on a formal complaint. Any feedback from someone experienced here would be greatly appreciated! I am told this is a legal issue in nursing at this point, and must be addressed. This mandate significantly affected my quality of life (along with the other 2 last weekend), and left me feeling very uneasy providing patient care.

Thank you in advance!

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.

What do your state's labor law suggest?

they are very vague, hence why I posted here...

however from what I gather it s a big no no to mandate a nurse past 16 hours

Specializes in Pediatrics, Emergency, Trauma.
they are very vague, hence why I posted here...

however from what I gather it s a big no no to mandate a nurse past 16 hours

It's pretty much a big no-no to work past 16 hours; if your employer is not budging, then reporting to the labor board seems to be an option; as far as posting on here, most of the responses here will be to report to the local labor board; any thing else will be against TOS.

Let us know how it goes!

Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
It's pretty much a big no-no to work past 16 hours; if your employer is not budging, then reporting to the labor board seems to be an option; as far as posting on here, most of the responses here will be to report to the local labor board; any thing else will be against TOS.

Let us know how it goes!

Not to mention you might not want to post so much detail out there in cyberspace.

Specializes in Critical Care, ED, Cath lab, CTPAC,Trauma.
they are very vague, hence why I posted here...

however from what I gather it s a big no no to mandate a nurse past 16 hours

it is not necessarily a no no....the facility must make a "reasonable effort" to cover the shift. The payment of OT is a labor board issue and a company policy issue.

https://www.labor.ny.gov/workerprotection/laborstandards/workers_rights/Mandatory_OT_home.shtm

Nurses Overtime, Wage and Hour Lawsuits

Omg --- I'm sorry. That's terrible! These lines about the mandations are completely ridiculous. Facilities can and should use agency in cases like that. No excuses for using and abusing nurses like this. Shame, shame, shame on them!! I hope you report to your state's dept of labor and BON!!

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