Where I am employed at present we are expected to report for work 15 minutes before our shift starts to recieve report. It is considered part of our "profesional responsiblity". We are told through the eons that is the way everyone does it. However I don't think that we should be expected to get report for free.
Please answer the following questions for me so I can gather information on whether or not our staff should push management into changing this policy.
1. Are you paid for the time spent recieving report?
2. Are you paid for the time spent while oncoming shift is recieving report?
3. If the answer is no to either question does management consider this part of you "profesional responsiblity"?
4. Are you expected to stay while report is given or can you leave once oncoming shift is recieving report?
We have a clause that states we cannot put in for overtime until we have worked more than 15 minutes, however you now cannot leave during that 15 minutes even though you are no longer on pay. Any solutions comment or help would be greatly appreciated.
Specializes in Med-surg; OB/Well baby; pulmonology; RTS.
We always clock in before receiving report and give our end of shift report, then clock out. Once we have given report and are finished, we clock out and go home.
I interviewed at one hospital that did not want to pay for the overlap - they expected you to get started, then clock in "on time" work your shift, clock out "on time" then finish what needed to be done. I have learned from other nurses who used to work there that they had other asinine labor practices as well, such as interrupting your unpaid lunch break for stupid sh*t like family member phone calls (hello - dumb @sses, tell them to call back!), FORGET about your paid breaks, can't take your vacation time, screwed out of your sick time, required to work 7 12s every 14 days (would be 84 hours/pay period, but since they screw people out of the shift overlap, it only comes to 80.5 hours, so they don't have to pay OT), etc. etc. I am amazed they are able to find nurses to work there. Must be the exchange for the whole priviledge of working in a teaching hospital. Whatever.
Anyway, after letting the unit's NM know what I thought of the facility's participation in a system that breaks almost every labor law in existence, I told her not to bother checking my references, that I was withdrawing my application.
You should not be feeling pressure from you employer to show up early for report. If you are working in Ontario you are probably unionized, contact your rep and ask them to step in. If you feel that your job is threatened because you don't come in, file a grevience, that is what we pay union dues for. Fill out overtime slips for the extra 15 min and don't walk on the unit until your shift starts. If you must stay for those 15 mins you can put in for 15 mins overtime, in BC we will get overtime pay for 15 mins but not 10 mins etc. If I am not giving report or working in those 15 mins I would leave, they can't insist that you stay if they are not paying you, although if you are not working you can't put in for overtime.
Specializes in Specializes in L/D, newborn, GYN, LTC, Dialysis.
Here, if you don't get your break, you clock out "no lunch" and you get that added back into your check. That is how it should be; if you are working, you are on the clock. Any place not doing that is cheating its employees and is unethical.
We work an 8/8/10 system - handover is supposed to take the first half hour of each shift, with paid overlap time. Individula areas handover their patients to the incoming nurses for that area; the resource nurse hands over the whole ward to the incoming resource nurse.
If area handover takes longer than the allocated half hour we stay 'til it's done; if we ever finish in under half an hour we usually leave early (as long as the rest of the ward's under control), but that hardly ever happens.
After a hideous night duty, I left this morning at 0900, and hour and a half late - you better believe I claimed the time, including time and a half for working more than ten hours in a row.
I'm prepared to do a lot in the name of professionalism - maintain my skills and knowledge, subscribe to journals, be civil to rude patients and relatives, conduct teaching sessions, take on extra duties - but I'm not working without being paid :)
Live and work in the US, in CA. I work 12 hour shifts...a.m. I'm supposed to be there at 7 a.m. This is when report is to start. Well, really, we start report at 7:10-7:15 since we have to change into scrubs. Now...really, the professional responsibility for our unit would be to have everyone get there a little early to be in scrubs at 0700 and get report at that time...once the clock starts at 0700. But alas, our unit custom, and our union bylaws, make it okay the way we have it now. So each shift has generally given report to the relieving nurse by 0730/1930.
However, my personal responsibility is what I'm seeing to before I "punch the clock" for worktime. Therefore, time for which my employer does not pay me can not be dictated by my employer. Which means I do nothing that involves pt care (unless it's emergency TRUE emergency), including receiving report, unless I'm on the clock.
Our shifts overlap by a half hour (i.e. 7am-7:30pm, 7pm-7:30am) and this is report time. During the week at 7am, 3pm, and 11pm (and during the weekend at 7am and 7pm) the oncoming nurses meet in our conference room for full unit report and the charge nurse comes in and gives us the "highlights" of the day. She basically goes through the list of babies and tells us if anything new is happening with them (medically or socially) so we know what to expect. She also reads off important announcements, who the doctors on call are, what kinds of moms are in L&D so we know what kind of admissions we might get, etc.
Then we go out into the unit and get a one on one report from the nurse or nurses caring for our kids. If there isn't unit report at the time you come on, you just go into the unit and get the one on one report. The whole thing, whether we meet for the unit report or not, usually takes no more than that half hour overlap so we don't have to come in early or leave late. Of course if a kid is really sick the report might take a bit longer, but that's understandable and we do get paid overtime if it keeps us there late.
When I've floated to Peds, PICU, and newborn nursery, they just meet one on one and give report that way. This also takes place during the half hour overlap and doesn't seem to be a problem.
I work at a University of california hospital and we do not even clock in. We are paid for 11 hours of work. Hours are 7a-730p...we are supposed to get an hour break....but as you know really we barly have time for a 30 min. lunch!
I wish we got paid the full time and report. Because during luch we are still on call.
Do you realize that they are saving about a minimum of $5k a year per full time employee by what they are doing? Assuming 3 shifts a week, 50 weeks a year, at a pay rate of $32/hr equals $4800 they are saving. If you consider that you are to be oncall during your lunch break that amount goes up to over $7k.
You are there 12.5 hrs everyday and being paid only 11hours??? I think this is probably against some labor laws. Are you under contract or not?
If I am on my lunch break and am interrupted to take a phone call etc, I can start my break over or if there are too many interruptions I don't consider it a lunch break.LLunch is 30 minutes uninterrupted. Our staff is pretty good about not interrupting. On occasion there has been a code( or other emergency situation) on a unit and I won't hesitate to stop eating, but I also will be paid for not having a lunch break. If I was down the street at Taco Bell they couldn't call me back.
As I said in my earlier post what if a lawsuit is brought against you during the time that you weren't paid. Will the hospital support you or say well she wasn't punched in.
Very few hospitals also use timecards because it would cost them more. All those free minutes and hours that nurses work would drop dramatically.
I work at a University of california hospital and we do not even clock in. We are paid for 11 hours of work. Hours are 7a-730p...we are supposed to get an hour break....but as you know really we barly have time for a 30 min. lunch!
I wish we got paid the full time and report. Because during luch we are still on call.
Burnt Out, ASN, RN
647 Posts
We always clock in before receiving report and give our end of shift report, then clock out. Once we have given report and are finished, we clock out and go home.