California LVN - Someone Please Help!!

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Hi Everyone:

My roommate is an IV Certified LVN/LPN and we're living in Southern California. Tonight she was supposed to have worked a 2p - 11p in a nursing home. It's now 1:00a and she's still there. Here's what's happened...

1) She works agency

2) Prior shift RN went off shift before giving a report to my roommate or to anyone else for that matter

3) My roommate was not permitted a lunch AT ALL

4) She had 31 patients and didn't finish her med pass until close to midnight

Isn't there some law in California that is supposed to help avoid all this?!? She won't be off work until close to 3a or 4a and she's still not being allowed to eat or even so much as take a break. She's having to chart on 12 different pts.

I've looked through California law on LVN - pt ratio, but all I can find is a floor, not a ceiling number. Is 31 pts to 1 LVN even legal?

Someone please help! How can this SNF get away with what they're doing?!?

A Concerned Roommate

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Specializes in ICU/Critical Care.

Sounds like a typical nurse to patient ratio in a nursing home.

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Specializes in Med Surg, LTC, Home Health.

Unfortunately, the nurse to pt ratios in California do not cover nursing homes. In my experience however, an LPN on a skilled nursing floor should not have more than 20 pts (dayshift), so i guess they would have more on nights. If it were intermediate care however, they could have up to 60 pts or even more! It is such a shameful system that almost guarantees substandard care for our most defenseless population. I hope your roommate can learn from this experience to ask the right questions before accepting such an assignment in the future. I have never worked agency, but it would seem that they should have a vested interest in protecting their nurses, and thus should provide information regarding the size of the pt loads they are asking them to accept. But perhaps their own profits and relationship to facilities may indulge them to keep such info from their nurses, in order to make sure someone accepts the assignment. Ultimately then, if that is the case, it is on our shoulders to get this information ourselves. Good luck to your roommate.:)

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Thank you to both of you. What I'm seeing of California law is downright frightening. They have a FLOOR limit of nurse to pt ratios but not a ceiling. And the last time I needed trauma care, the LVN in the E.D. had a 14:1 and being a rescue paramedic, I was like oh my God. I couldn't even imagine the stress she was under.

I've told m roommate that about all she can do from what I can find, is to report this to the agency personnel and inform them she no longer wants assignments at that particular facility. She's on her way home now, FINALLY, so she got a full 12 hour shift, agency pay with no lunch. Facility signed that she didn't get a lunch, which I was VERY happy about. So her first 8 hours is at straight pay while her last 4 are at time and a half, which is how California pay works.

First 8 Hours: Straight Pay

Hours 8 - 12: Time and a half

Hours 12 - 24: Double time

So the California pay scale doesn't pay overtime for anything over 40... This pay scale is daily work, so her getting paid for 8 then 4 at time and a half is a heck of a lot better than her getting paid straight time for 12 because she's nowhere near her 40 hours for this week.

Again thank you and I can only hope she uses this as a learning experience.

Anthony

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Specializes in A myriad of specialties.
Thank you to both of you. What I'm seeing of California law is downright frightening. They have a FLOOR limit of nurse to pt ratios but not a ceiling. And the last time I needed trauma care, the LVN in the E.D. had a 14:1 and being a rescue paramedic, I was like oh my God. I couldn't even imagine the stress she was under.

I've told m roommate that about all she can do from what I can find, is to report this to the agency personnel and inform them she no longer wants assignments at that particular facility. She's on her way home now, FINALLY, so she got a full 12 hour shift, agency pay with no lunch. Facility signed that she didn't get a lunch, which I was VERY happy about. So her first 8 hours is at straight pay while her last 4 are at time and a half, which is how California pay works.

First 8 Hours: Straight Pay

Hours 8 - 12: Time and a half

Hours 12 - 24: Double time

So the California pay scale doesn't pay overtime for anything over 40... This pay scale is daily work, so her getting paid for 8 then 4 at time and a half is a heck of a lot better than her getting paid straight time for 12 because she's nowhere near her 40 hours for this week.

Again thank you and I can only hope she uses this as a learning experience.

Anthony

I thought it was FEDERAL law(not state law) to pay overtime for anything above 40 hrs except in the midwest if you were in the agricultural industry(like pig nurseries) when you get paid overtime for anything over 56 hours.

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Hi, if you are still out there, yes, your roommate is due overtime for all hours in excess of 8 per day and 40 per week. I am a CA wage and hour attorney working with some LVNs right now in getting their unpaid overtime from an agency. If you or any other nurses out there have any questions about whether you are being paid properly, feel free to email me at [email protected]. Good luck, and I hope she has found a good employer by now!

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