Clock out by 8am or get reprimanded!!!

Nurses Activism

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To all,

does anyone else get this at their job? I mean, for the most part depending on how your night/day went you would clock out right about on time or a little/waaay past it if you had a grueling shift. BUT!! what if now you receive a memo about all nurses, not just you must clock ou tor are ENCOURAGED to clock out at eight am/pm because accruable OT is too expensive and being busy that shift is not an excuse. TOP that with being told that having not complied with this matter you will get reprimanded. Hell, some nurses I have wokred with started clocking out at 8AM and going back to finish off charting and even report at times just so they wont get written up. Mind you we do have small forms that we can present to state why we are late clocking out etc which in turn has to be approved by the manager and supervisor, but with the staffing issues at our hospital of 3:1 AVERAGE IN ICU and even worse on the floors (we're not union) that has been recently brought forth our clock out times on average has been 30 minutes -1 hour from the set standard. Anyways, just wanted to pose that in the event the hospital fires or forces nurses to clock out on time secondary to an ultimatum is that illegal? this is for the state of NJ.

thanks all:bluecry1:

Specializes in Family Practice, Mental Health.

here's some wording from a local union:

the assumption that overtime worked is the result of poor time management disregards the nurse's obligation to their assigned patients and the requirements of providing safe patient care. the nurse's license and hospital job description require the nurse to complete the patient care ordered by the physician and specified by the nursing care plan. they must accurately document their assessments, record the care given as well as the patient's response. then, they must report all pertinent and necessary information to the nurse assigned to assume the patient care for the next shift. these responsibilities and obligations are paramount. the nurse's judgment regarding patient care priorities should prevail in the determination of which aspects of patient care, if any, can safely be postponed in order to avoid overtime

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if there is too much work then the mgt needs to look at staffing. Unfortunately mgt is never looking out for the nurses' best interest.

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Specializes in CVICU-ICU.

Bottom line is you have 3 different situations/scenerios :

1) The nurse who has poor time management skills and is always clocking out late due to inability to finish her work in the scheduled shift. In that case some time management lessons should be offered because it is not that the work can't be done its that the nurse isn't able to manage/delegate in order to get things done.

2) The nurse that routinely stays late to "milk the clock". Its not hard to differentate between this nurse and the above nurse because the nurse that has time management issues will be running around all shift however the one that is "milking the clock" will appear to be doing fine however it takes them longer to give report...they socialize or do whatever they can do to get those extra 15-30 minutes. I think this is the reason that request for overtime should be required with written reasons why OT is needed in order for management to justify and see what caused the nurse to get so far behind.

3) The nurse who is ususally out on time however had a very bad day and therefore can't get caught up easily. We all have those days now and again however if it is happening more often with more than one nurse then its time for someone to look at staffing. By clocking out and finishing on your own time you are doing a disservice to yourself and every other nurse because if you clock out on time then management can easily give that same workload again and say well so and so did it so its not impossible. Also workers comp or will NOT cover you once you are off the clock which could result in a bad outcome both for you and the employer.

There are many reasons why people receive OT....some legit and justifiable and can't be helped however if it is happening over and over with many nurses then something needs to change with assignments however if everyone clocks out and finishes on their own time then management will be able to say to any labor board that the workload is able to be done and they will be able to show documentation of such because it will appear that most of the time nurses are leaving on time.

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Specializes in critical care; community health; psych.

Not on the clock = you are on your own and will have a lot of explaining to do if something goes wrong with your patients or you get hurt on the job. You are not "on the job" if you are not clocked in.

I would not do it and have never done it. The exposure to mishap alone is enough for me to say no way.

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Specializes in Acute, long-term, home and hospice care,.

Having been on both sides of this (staff and manager) I get it. Your employer is legally obligated to pay you for any and all time worked. You should not be clocking out and going back to work, that leaves you in a legal dilemma (notes say your there, the clock says your not). From the managers perspective they budget for "x" amount of hours based on adjusted patient data. Assuming your nurse:patient ratio is safe (compared to nationally excepted standards) then perhaps as a group the staff can address some of the concerns and make suggestions on how to improve the work flow. I suggest that you take a long hard look at your time usage while you are working and ask yourself if you are, in fact, working to your full capacity. Reading scrub catalogs, checking your personal email, or spending 15 minutes after report complaining about assignments may be the extra 1/2 hour your needing at the end of your shift. I have not worked in a single institution where everyone worked all the time (myself included). Overtime, unless necessary, can kill an nursing unit's budget and your manager has nothing to go back to admin with unless the unit is truly working as effeciently as it should be. Plus, in some states (mine included) "mandatory overtime" bills have made this issue even harder for employers. :twocents:

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Sounds like your running Toyota Lean methods there. Your managers have lost touch with what your nursing license demands of you - you don't work for the hospital, you work for the State of Minnesota and you are required to provide not only safe patient care, but appropriate/specific charting. You can wind up before the State Board of Minnesota and fired [without recourse] for violation of either of those two things. Take the time you need to be LEGAL.

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Specializes in Peds Cardiology,Peds Neuro,Pedi ER,PICU, IV Jedi.

I once heard a wise nurse tell her manager after a discussion similar to the OPs..."I'll be here until my job is done, and you'll pay me for every moment of it."

Words to live by.

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Specializes in Critical care, tele, Medical-Surgical.
Having been on both sides of this (staff and manager) I get it. Your employer is legally obligated to pay you for any and all time worked. You should not be clocking out and going back to work, that leaves you in a legal dilemma (notes say your there, the clock says your not). From the managers perspective they budget for "x" amount of hours based on adjusted patient data. Assuming your nurse:patient ratio is safe (compared to nationally excepted standards) then perhaps as a group the staff can address some of the concerns and make suggestions on how to improve the work flow. I suggest that you take a long hard look at your time usage while you are working and ask yourself if you are, in fact, working to your full capacity. Reading scrub catalogs, checking your personal email, or spending 15 minutes after report complaining about assignments may be the extra 1/2 hour your needing at the end of your shift. I have not worked in a single institution where everyone worked all the time (myself included). Overtime, unless necessary, can kill an nursing unit's budget and your manager has nothing to go back to admin with unless the unit is truly working as effeciently as it should be. Plus, in some states (mine included) "mandatory overtime" bills have made this issue even harder for employers. :twocents:

I bolded "nationally excepted standards" because if they exist I've never seen them.

Does anyone know what these standards are?

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Specializes in Staff nurse.

There are rare shifts when I take a 30 minute lunch and my two 15 minute breaks. My reality is more taking a 15 minute break if I am lucky. I do not look at anything non-work related when I am on the clock unless I am caught up with my assessments, meds, treatments, and chore. I come to the floor ready to work...if assignments aren't out yet, I make myself busy restocking the med rooms etc.

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We have to have a charge nurse signature, in blood, for any incremental overtime. But we are told not to clock out and then finish our charting or report. The management seems to think the issue is time management. So when I have to sign the back of the assignment sheet to get overtime approved, I explain the reason in graphic detail, even if it takes up extra space. I am not overtime unless something came up at shift change, such as a massive code brown, change in pt condition, moving a pt at shift change (kinda hard to give report in the middle of transferring to the floor), etc. How can management argue that it is acceptable to leave a pt lying in a pile of poop while you give report? That is how I get around not being able to use busy shift as a reason for overtime. When all else fails, I write a funny song about all the crazy things we deal with on the job!

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Specializes in surg/tele.

I am a new grad and I do come in early to read charts before I clock in, and sometimes stay after I clock out to finish up what I couldn't finish during the shift. I only clock out before finishing if what I am finishing is regular charting I know I should have been able to do during the shift. If something happens, like a discharge right at shift change, I stay clocked in. I don't feel my employer is taking advantage of me. I come in early and stay after for my own peace of mind. I am still struggling with getting organized and learning time management. I am getting better, but it will be a while before I am up to speed. I work on a busy, fast, surg/tele unit. The staff are very supportive, as is management. When I truly "get it", I think I will be able to get my job done on time most of the time. And if I can't because of hospital issues (as opposed to my own time management issues), I will stay clocked in every time.

But for now, I need the extra time. Not for management, for me. I need to read up on the pts so I don't get overwhelmed. So I know what's going on. So I can get better at being a nurse. I WILL get there, but it is taking some extra time in the charts. I am giving myself that extra time because I know I need it and I deserve to have it.

Now, when I am an experienced nurse and I am working hard and I feel they are trying to squeeze too much work out of me, I will not put up with that. But for right now, I feel like I am still in school and I do what I did in school when I had a hard class. I spend more time studying and figuring things out. But they are not asking me to do that. I am doing it on my own. I guess that is the reason I don't feel bullied.

Emma "can't wait to be bored" Peel

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You do what you need to do to become proficient and grow as a new nurse. You'll get the time management down soon enough. Then you won't want to stay after on your own time.

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