Do private duty LVN/LPN ever get a pay raise?

Specialties Private Duty

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I have heard that if you are a LVN/LPN and you work for an agency, you will never get a pay raise? Is this true? Several people told me this. Please advise.

Specializes in Home Health (PDN), Camp Nursing.

It makes it normal. That's what the world is. You can feel anyway you want about it, but the truth is you won't work for free, and your agency won't exist without profit. I'm not saying I support major income disparities, however this concept that everyone always getting screwed by their employer drives me nuts. No one puts a gun to my head and makes me work for company A. if I don't like it I can find a better deal at company B. The only alternative is to start a profit sharing commune PDN agency.

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Reimbursement rate may be the reason or excuse made by the agency when they tell the individual why they can't be paid more, but that never flies when that same individual finds out that another nurse on the very same case is being paid $3 to $6 more per hour, and they were told "all nurses are paid the same rate".

Yes it is an excuse. My coworkers, after 7 years working for the company without a raise is a red flag. Maybe the employer is showing them to the door or the system is set up that way in my state. They did not even get a 5 cent raise. A person should seek options elsewhere if this happens to them. That is very reasonable and people should agree.

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:down: A raise......what's that?.......I faintly remember those things in my pre-nursing days but raises exist in the nursing world.....Shut the Front Door.....:yes:
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What makes income disparity morally wrong is lying to your employees by telling them that you are paying the same rate. When an employer is up front about favoring certain employees, then those who are slighted have good information to base a decision on leaving that employer.

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No one puts a gun to my head and makes me work for company A. if I don't like it I can find a better deal at company B. (sorry I could not get the quote thing to work for some reason)

My thoughts exactly. If I had not recieved a raise in several years I would move on to another agency. I have never had my money jacked with at my current agency but I have worked with a few nurses who have. My take on it is that you don't mess with peoples pay - once those games start happening it is time to move on.

One gal I worked with was needed for overtime on a case until they found someone to be assigned to the case - the agency actually convinced her to decrease her hourly wage so they would be able to pay her overtime for the case - did not make since to me at all. In the end she was making the same as if she was working straight time at her previous pay. I told her she was a fool to agree to that. I felt if the agency was that desperate they would have paid her the correct amount without playing with her paycheck.

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Specializes in Peds(PICU, NICU float), PDN, ICU.
No one puts a gun to my head and makes me work for company A. if I don't like it I can find a better deal at company B. (sorry I could not get the quote thing to work for some reason)

My thoughts exactly. If I had not recieved a raise in several years I would move on to another agency. I have never had my money jacked with at my current agency but I have worked with a few nurses who have. My take on it is that you don't mess with peoples pay - once those games start happening it is time to move on.

One gal I worked with was needed for overtime on a case until they found someone to be assigned to the case - the agency actually convinced her to decrease her hourly wage so they would be able to pay her overtime for the case - did not make since to me at all. In the end she was making the same as if she was working straight time at her previous pay. I told her she was a fool to agree to that. I felt if the agency was that desperate they would have paid her the correct amount without playing with her paycheck.

The agencies will do anything to pay less. Nothing is below these agencies. They will stoop to the lowest levels in order to avoid paying. I've never seen an agency that didn't.

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Specializes in Pediatric Private Duty; Camp Nursing.

... the agency actually convinced her to decrease her hourly wage so they would be able to pay her overtime for the case - did not make since to me at all. In the end she was making the same as if she was working straight time at her previous pay. I told her she was a fool to agree to that.

So she agreed to work MORE hours with no extra pay? I thought nurses were supposed to have better-than-average critical thinking skills! Wow, that's one of the worst decisions I've ever heard of.

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No one puts a gun to my head and makes me work for company A. if I don't like it I can find a better deal at company B. (sorry I could not get the quote thing to work for some reason)

My thoughts exactly. If I had not recieved a raise in several years I would move on to another agency. I have never had my money jacked with at my current agency but I have worked with a few nurses who have. My take on it is that you don't mess with peoples pay - once those games start happening it is time to move on.

One gal I worked with was needed for overtime on a case until they found someone to be assigned to the case - the agency actually convinced her to decrease her hourly wage so they would be able to pay her overtime for the case - did not make since to me at all. In the end she was making the same as if she was working straight time at her previous pay. I told her she was a fool to agree to that. I felt if the agency was that desperate they would have paid her the correct amount without playing with her paycheck.

That's insane!! Why would you agree to work more hours for nothing!?!? Agencies will lie right to your face. I had one that promised me 16 hrs every weekend. As soon as I was hired this changed to 16 twice a month. I didn't stay there very long.

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So she agreed to work MORE hours with no extra pay? I thought nurses were supposed to have better-than-average critical thinking skills! Wow, that's one of the worst decisions I've ever heard of.
People do similar things more often than you would think, usually with a full understanding. That shows the degree of job insecurity they are suffering.
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Specializes in Peds(PICU, NICU float), PDN, ICU.

That's insane!! Why would you agree to work more hours for nothing!?!? Agencies will lie right to your face. I had one that promised me 16 hrs every weekend. As soon as I was hired this changed to 16 twice a month. I didn't stay there very long.

These agencies never think long term, they only worry about today. That's why stuff like that happens. If the agencies looked more long term, they would do what they needed to get us to stay and the cases would be staffed better because nurses wouldn't always be leaving. Same with raises, they don't realize that good benefits or a raise will keep nurses around. It costs more to hire and train a nurse than it does to keep one they already have. But that requires the long term thinking that these agencies don't have.

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Yes, the LPNs got a large raise also. We were told it was the result of an employment survey which revealed the dissatisfaction with the current rates. It was pretty surprising!

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Specializes in Pedi.
This is so true.

I have founf this to be true even when both nurses were hired at the same time and with similiar experience.

To the OP,in general I've found the Northeast pays the most when it comes to PDN and the southerm and midwestern states don't pay all that great,and on top of that you have to do more work.

For ex,I didn't know some PDN's draw the pts bloodwork in one southern state I relocated to.

On top of that,you didn't get reimbursed for gas or your time.

I have never heard of that in my old state.

Why would you be reimbursed for mileage working PDN? You drive from your home to the client's home, no? That's your commute to work. Home health nurses doing visits don't get reimbursed for the gas from their home to their first client nor the time it takes to get there. If a PDN draws blood for her patient, the only miles which are reimbursable are the miles from the client's house to the lab.

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