Do you understand your paycheck??

Yep, I do. After getting shafted a few times (and only realizing it because someone else was in a similar scenario and got more money), I went to payroll and had them go over exactly how it all works.

Try again... you do need to understand your check, or else how are you ever going to make sure there's no mistakes??

I feel your pain! I've had this same problem. My OT, shift diff, on-call pay, etc. is all lumped together in one catagory and I still haven't been given a straight answer as to when my night shift diff kicks in. I've been told 3pm, 7pm, and 11pm. Who knows? My paycheck certainly doesn't make it clear. Also, my hospital is notorious for "technical errors" which short us money a lot of times, but they're hard to catch because the paychecks are so vague. When you catch an error, good luck getting your back-pay. It takes an act of congress. I've gone to HR to try to clarify my questions, but they couldn't even interpret my checks either. I wish we could have one of those inservices, but the hospital isn't going to offer it. We've tried. I'm glad you brought this up. I didn't realize it was a problem at other places.

I add up my hours multiply by my hourly rate and add a few bucks for penaltys, if the result I get is too different from my payslip I ask questions other wise I figure it's OK. Some weeks I get payed more for working less hours but I was told that is because the tax threshold is greater on higher pay.And then the conversation went off into percentages....and different penalty rates.... and stuff... I just show up and do what I'm supposed to and go home and pray I've got enough in the bank to cover e-bay.

I figure out my hrs, my shift diff, my earned time for being on call or low census, and any other amounts of time I have to figure out...it's usually more than I expect, which is fine by me.....

It's really tough sometimes to understand mine. I just figured out that "HDX" on my paycheck means holiday differential that I earned working January 1st.

I also have 13 deductions prior to me getting my share. This two week cycle those deductions were $1195.....sheesh.

We switched to a new payroll system and you can't understand the checks one bit. Good luck with HR, payroll or your manager, it's a new system and they don't understand it either. The great new system shafted the entire facility the last pay period, I lost well over $300. So far I've managed to squeeze $200 out of them, but I'm still short almost $100 and despite all my calculations, mine doesn't equal theirs, so I don't know if I'll get the rest of my money or not.

Things are a very happy place where I work right now (not)

No, not really. This is because for example it will say Weekend shift diff: 72:00 (meaning hours) And then say Night shift diff: 72:00 but it won't give me the exact number of hours I did either working a weekend or working night shift. It wasn't always this way.

We get a print out a week ahead of time (Fri am) to review and if there's a problem we need to contact them by Tues at 5pm. On med/surg they were in a drawer in alphbetical order. No dollar amounts were included. In medical imaging my manager just hands it to us or if were not there puts them on the bulletin board, folded with our first name on it. I think it's a great idea.

I always keep track of my time in a book, I write down when I clock in & when I clock out. I am the only RN in the unit (dialysis clinic) & can't leave for lunch. The company didn't think I should be paid for lunch, but I beg to differ, if I can't leave the building then your paying me. I really have to keep track of this because I've been shorted several times.

Just curious, if you don't get to take lunch does your company pay you for it? This happens alot with my co-workers & they never get paid.

I understand it completely- there just isn't enough left over for me in it!!!!!

I understand your pain. With this actually being my first real job, i am new to getting an actual paycheck and taxes. I try to take a tally of how many hours i work each week and try to figure out my deductions, usually the numbers are close. It is still a confusing process, and i had a quick inservice during hospital orientation for understanding your paycheck to.

Shannon:)

After 30 years and multiple differnet payroll systems, I have gotten fairly good at deciphering the mystery we call our "paycheck"! We recently switch to one that is so wrought with diffenet deductions for this and that, you really need an inservice on how to decide if it is right or wrong. Since I work a lot of OT and another facility which is within the same corporation the double time adds up real quick. I keep an an approx of my hours and as long as my take home check is over $4000 every two weeks, I am OK. But, keeping an eye on your money is important because last year I found out that the hospital wasn't paying me correctly in differential and they hadn't been for over 5 years! In the end they owed me almost $8000 in back pay which I gladly excepted! So, keep an eye on finances because the MAN won't.