I am on staff at a local hospital in the cardiac stepdown unit on a PRN basis. I recently began working for an agency ( just at one hospital) one or two days a week. No one ever gets lunch or breaks at either hospital. In fact, if the agency calls me in, you can bet it's a particularly hairy day.
When I work Agency, the hospital wants me to have the Nursing Supervisor sign my time slip if I claim "no lunch" or if I work over 8 or 12 hours. It isn't unusual for a staff nurse to have to skip lunch or stay over to finish charting, but the hospital doesn't want to pay agency money for me to stay late or work through lunch.
I'm in a no-win situation. If I claim no lunch, or if I stay late, they'll most likely say I have a time management problem, and stop calling me to work. The other alternative is to claim a lunch break and work 30 minutes for free. The same goes for staying over to finish up. Do I just work free so I look more efficient?
Finding the Nursing Supervisor can be a nightmare, too. One night it took 40 minutes to find her to come sign my time slip because I skipped a 30 minute lunch break! I didn't get paid for the 40 minutes I waited. What's the solution?