Director mandating and threatening to change clockout times

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Specializes in CCU, CRRT.

Hello all,

Recently my hospital went through a director carousel of some sorts. A few of the directors left(forced out) after we brought in a new CNO, being replaced from current directors on other units. My director was one of those that was moved to replace another unit, in return we have a first-time director who was previously a nurse manager of our oncology unit (my unit is tele-orthopedic, surgical). My director recently sent out an email that has many on my unit, myself included infuriated. The email states that administration will not tolerate clocking out late for any circumstances - in an effort to 'fix' the budget issues and 'excessive' overtime. The email also had a form they wanted us to sign to confirm that we will not clock out late unless there is a rapid response during shift change. Documentation is not considered a valid excuse to stay late - and verbally the director in our follow-up meeting to this email is expecting us to go downstairs to clock out, than return to the floor to continue to chart - on our own time! She even has gone as far to say for repeat offenders she will consider modifying the time-clock (Isn't that against labor laws?) my unit is already under-staffed with very poor morale. Majority of our night nurses haven't even taken a break for the last 6+ months as there's not enough time dealing with 8 patients all Q1-2 rounding. We have had it.. but we don't really know where we should go to attempt to improve floor conditions/morale.

Sorry for the rant, but I needed to get this off my chest and into the air. Unfortunately, I would consider moving however I'm still 8 months short for my contract for the unit.. and 1.8years left on my hospital contract.. and it's 18k to break the contract.

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Unfortunately, I would consider moving however I'm still 8 months short for my contract for the unit.. and 1.8years left on my hospital contract.. and it's 18k to break the contract.

BS. Don't sign anything. Spend some of that 18K on a lawyer to inform them where they went wrong.

Do not, for many reasons, do any aspect of patient care while not on the clock, including documenting.

Don't be infuriated; this isn't your circus. Stay calm and business-like. Print out the email and get some legal advice.

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Specializes in Cardio-Pulmonary; Med-Surg; Private Duty.

Forward the email to the Wage and Hour Division of your state's Labor Board.

The state will take it from there....

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I once invited my DON to follow me around and suggest ways I might be able to improve my "time management" (get blood from a stone). She declined and backed off in a hurry. Under the circumstances you describe, I think I would focus on finishing my charting and leave more tasks undone. When the next shift starts seething, apologize and refer them to the person who made the rules.

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Specializes in Med Surge, Tele, Oncology, Wound Care.

Do you have an ethics hotline? I know we had an issue with our manager printing up all employee time cards with HR information on them and posting at the front desk. These had written on them/circled, the number of times clocked out late, called out sick- basically a public shaming for all to see.

Someone went to the ethics/whistleblower Department which is a 3rd party and they got her to stop.

I would send the email to them and see how far she can go with her "plan"

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No OT to chart has been enforced for many years, in many places. In my last hospital position, I had 7-9 patients. I got out on time , you can too.

Only you know if it worth the bucks to break your contract. Spend your negative energy on finding another place to work.

Best wishes.

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I once invited my DON to follow me around and suggest ways I might be able to improve my "time management" (get blood from a stone). She declined and backed off in a hurry. Under the circumstances you describe, I think I would focus on finishing my charting and leave more tasks undone. When the next shift starts seething, apologize and refer them to the person who made the rules.

++snort++ love it. I invited my DON to see what I do all day. You should have seen her in her power suit and sneakers. Needless to say, she didn't make it till lunch.

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Specializes in orthopedic/trauma, Informatics, diabetes.

I am great with my time management and most times, I am very close to clocking out within 10 minutes of clock-out time. There are times when stuff happens. Like 4-5 post-ops that show up between 7:00-7:30 (grr) We usually don't get any grief unless it is someone that constantly is clocking out hour, hour and a half late. That is a problem. We had an older nurse that was not great with EPIC, she would write everything down and then spend 2 hours charting after the shift was over. I helped show her some shortcuts, charting while in the room, etc and was so proud when she left within 30 minutes of her shift :)

I refuse to clock out to chart.

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No OT to chart has been enforced for many years, in many places. In my last hospital position, I had 7-9 patients. I got out on time , you can too.

Only you know if it worth the bucks to break your contract. Spend your negative energy on finding another place to work.

Best wishes.

I've only ever seen people targeted when they were repeated outliers. No outright prohibition.

Just talking off the top of my head but I'd say documentation requirements have increased ?? 50% in the last 5 years alone. There was a time when it actually took longer to provide the care than to document about it. That is no longer the case, even if you're good at charting quickly. One stays under the radar these days by being exceedingly brief (both with patient interactions and charting) and by hedging wise bets about who's going to come looking for what, sad to say.

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