Do you get paid to stay late and chart?

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I'm just really curious to know if you get OT pay to stay longer to chart and/or do assessments on patients and give report? If not, how do you feel when you have to stay an extra hour or more after your shift end when you are not getting paid for it?

I currently work a minimum wage job and if you stay even 2 minutes late you are not getting paid for it. So if I have a customer who just showed up with no else to help him/her my manager still expect me to help the customer for free. This makes me feel like a slave of course, but I'm not sure if I would feel the same if I was a nurse to stay and help a patient for free and it's why I'm asking the Allnurss members on the topic.

I get paid for every minute I work.

More accurately, I get paid for every minute between punching in and punching out, whether I am working, goofing off, or taking a poop. It would never occur to me to clock out and return to work. That's wrong on so many fronts....

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

Oh heck no, I don't work for free. The Dept of Labor agrees that non-salaried employees must be paid for hours worked. If I have to stay over and chart, or if I am too busy to take a full uninterrupted 30 minute lunch break (Dept of Labor states that a "meal" break must be uninterrupted; if you are interrupted, you get paid for the whole thing), I get paid for it. Any time over and beyond my shift is time-and-a-half.

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Specializes in LTC and Pediatrics.

I never clock out until my work is finished. If I have to stay over to do my charting, then so be it. I figure during my 8 hour shift, the residents and their needs come first. If I can get charting done on a good night, that is great. If I can't get charting done, then I stay and finish it after I hand the floor over to the next shift's nurse.

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With a couple of exceptions where I was ready to walk out the door and remembered something I wanted to document, I have have never documented off the clock. As others have said, it is against labor laws to work off the clock. I have worked for mangers who would tell us that we need to sign out on time and it was my impression that they were hinting that we should document off the clock. Not happening.

I once had an employer who was incredibly strict about not working off the clock. We were not allowed to even sign in on a computer if we were off the clock. That included the time we were clocked out for lunch. We were also expected to clock out on time, which made things a little stressful. Still, if it had been a really busy night and I had to stay a few minutes late to document, they never made an issue out of it.

When brand new nurses who are still working out their time management skills ask me if they should sign out and then document, I tell them "You worked hard for that license. Don't give it away for free."

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If they ain't payin', I ain't stayin'.

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

I don't do anything for free. If I'm charting, answering lights, taking a phone call--I'm on the clock. No exceptions

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Specializes in HH, Peds, Rehab, Clinical.

In what universe is OT pay lower than base pay? It really sounds like your company is preying on your youth and inexperience.

Thank you for responding. Also is the pay rate lower for OT pay than your regular earnings?
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I rarely have this problem in the environment I'm in now (OR). If I stay late, I'm working clinically 9 times out of 10 now. Generally there's either no relief, I've taken someone's call or there is an emergency running which naturally starts right at shift change. Rarely will I have to stay for documentation at this point in time. It does happen once in a great while where I'm finishing something up from a documentation perspective.

I now have one patient at a time. When I worked the floor and had multiples and had to finish up charting? I never clocked out until I was done charting. It's still working, part of the job. I will say that it was easier to chart as I went on nights than on days. In my experience, there a little less going on of the things that really kept me from charting on nights. What I mean is there were less instances where RNs had to transport patients on tele for testing, less orders being changed due to rounding, I didn't generally have to try to beat the PT/OT folks down the hall with my assessments and med passes, etc. Not that we never had to transport for testing, and not that it was by any means calm. We had to keep patients in bed (post strokes, dementia, detoxing, etc), we had to draw labs, we had to give meds, baths, got admits, ran codes, everything. We rarely had nights discharges (occasionally some evenings, and sometimes we had DNRs/DNIs/comfort care onlys pass away which were technically discharges too). If I was transporting patients at night - it was for a stat head CT due to neuro status change, or transferring to a higher level of care. I generally got a lot of my "busywork" charting done between midnight and 2, unless we had a lot of escape artists on our unit. If orders were being put in overnight it was generally an admit, or we called requesting changes.

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Specializes in Med/Surg, Rehab, Case management.

I always did. I worked 3 12s and we didn't get overtime until we were over 40 hours a week. So I did get paid for the time, but not overtime as I USUALLY didn't hit 40 hours a week... Now I'm salary so I don't get anything for working extra!

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Specializes in Registered Nurse.

I am wondering why you wonder about nurses in particular. I am wondering how you know we use the term, "Chart." But I'm just a curious person sometimes. lol.

I get paid hourly for all I time I am on the clock. In the past, I have been discouraged from "staying on the clock". It is sort of an unwritten request. However, I still stay on the clock most of the time, unless I think the extra time is somehow my doing.

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Specializes in ER, Med-surg.

OP, I just want to reiterate really, really clearly- your employer is engaging in wage theft. They are stealing the wages to which you are legally entitled- they are stealing your labor by making you work for free.. It is not legal to require an hourly employee to work off the clock.

Your manager almost certainly knows this- the lawyers at corporate for whatever company you work for definitely do. Don't tolerate it.

And in answer to your question- while I have known unscrupulous managers who would pressure nurses to clock out before finishing charting, this is also illegal (and stupid on the part of the hospital, putting them at liability). Generally I believe it comes from middle managers who are more concerned about the productivity of the unit and how it reflects on them, and are hoping no one speaks up to senior management, who recognize the legal liability of this practice not being worth the savings.

An employee who regularly stays late to chart is likely to be in trouble for time-management issues, of course, and may face termination if they can't get it together, but they are still entitled to pay for any work they actually do.

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I am encouraged to stay late and finish documenting. My nursing home has gotten slammed for documentation (before I worked there)so now they encourage us to stay and get some extra OT to finish charting. Fine by me! Plus while I was documenting other patients, social workers, etc., came into the nurses station needing things. If I saw the next shift was busy I helped out too which added even more time to my charting. SO definately not doing it for free!

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