Does your employer charge you for PTO?

[Lovethenurse2b25]

I work for an LTC facility that pretty much charges for pto. This is the first time I’ve heard of this. I actually worked for an assisted living facility for 9 years before company sold the property and we did not lose money for pto.

I'm sure your wonder what I mean by paying for pto. This companies starting wage is $35hr but if you want pto your wage will have to drop to $33.50hr. This is were it gets interesting if you want PTO and Benefits your hourly wage is $32.

With a hourly wage of $32 your annual salary would be

Gross Income$66,560.00

Take Home $53,650.46

With an hourly wage of $35 your annual salary would be

Gross Income$72,800.00

Take Home$58,040.30

The take home between the wages is a $5,000 different. I think this policy is outrages. And to top it off the benefits that they offer still come out of your check every two weeks. I feel as it they are forcing you not to want benefits and pto.

Please share your opinion on this !

[MunoRN, RN]

15 minutes ago, ThePrincessBride said:

1200? That is outrageous.

For medical, dental, vision and.disability, I pay $45 biweekly.

That's for family coverage, the employee contribution was $60 biweekly just a few years ago. The average employer-provided family coverage is about $20,000 per year which is about what my plan costs, I pay about 70% of that and my employer contributes the other 30%.

[stockmanjr, BSN]

9 hours ago, LovingLife123 said:

You need to leave that place. They are shady, shady.

Agreed this sounds like the kind of place that will throw you under the bus really quickly.

[NurseBlaq]

2 hours ago, klone said:

I know of no places in the US that offer maternity leave. You would likely need to move to Canada or Europe, or another place with socialized healthcare to find that.

US Federal Government

[dream'n, BSN, RN]

Wait, I'm confused. Are you saying that if you take the benefits, you can only see one particular PA that comes to the facility to see employees?

[Jory, MSN, APRN, CNM]

You are looking at this wrong...they are giving you a choice. You can take it without pay or no benefits. If they were only offering you the lower salary for PTO and benefits you wouldn't think anything of it.

[Lovethenurse2b25, ASN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

9 hours ago, dream'n said:

Wait, I'm confused. Are you saying that if you take the benefits, you can only see one particular PA that comes to the facility to see employees?

Yes!

[Lovethenurse2b25, ASN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

1 hour ago, Jory said:

You are looking at this wrong...they are giving you a choice. You can take it without pay or no benefits. If they were only offering you the lower salary for PTO and benefits you wouldn't think anything of it.

As previously mentioned this is the first company that i’ve worked for that utilizes a “Cafeteria Method”. I would question it regardless because this particular method is new to me. In my past experience i worked at an assisted living facility for about 10 years. Employees received PTO hours and benefits. However the hourly wage did not decrease as a result of the incentives.

A nurse is trained to question anything that seems peculiar.

[Jory, MSN, APRN, CNM]

10 minutes ago, Lovethenurse2b25 said:

As previously mentioned this is the first company that i’ve worked for that utilizes a “Cafeteria Method”. I would question it regardless because this particular method is new to me. In my past experience i worked at an assisted living facility for about 10 years. Employees received PTO hours and benefits. However the hourly wage did not decrease as a result of the incentives.

A nurse is trained to question anything that seems peculiar.

But just because it's different doesn't mean it is shady. If you think you are not paying out-of-pocket for any benefits--you are wrong. They just reduce the hourly wage of ANY job with ANY company to compensate for it. Doesn't matter what industry.

If you have ever seen a comprehensive employment package...RNs rarely receive this...it shows the breakdown of every cost and shows the "true picture" of your salary. Anyone who has ever worked in HR knows this.

So if the going rate in your area, per the OP is $35.00/hr...then maybe it is strange, but not all facilities pay the same either. But if it is less than $35 and hour, then you haven't "lost" any pay, you are just seeing a different snapshot of the norm.

At my level of employment, I am also, on salary, but I have PTO, other vacation, CME time, and malpractice insurance, along with other benefits, built it. When my employment package was presented, it is actually about $30K more a year than I am receiving in my TAKE HOME SALARY.

It wouldn't make it any better if they stated, "Oh, we will throw in PTO, vacation, etc., and pay you <insert my take home salary here>". You only think it's different because they are fully disclosing it...but it's not.

Benefits are not free folks...stop thinking they are.

[Lovethenurse2b25, ASN, BSN, CNA, LPN, RN]

3 minutes ago, Jory said:

But just because it's different doesn't mean it is shady. If you think you are not paying out-of-pocket for any benefits--you are wrong. They just reduce the hourly wage of ANY job with ANY company to compensate for it. Doesn't matter what industry.

If you have ever seen a comprehensive employment package...RNs rarely receive this...it shows the breakdown of every cost and shows the "true picture" of your salary. Anyone who has ever worked in HR knows this.

So if the going rate in your area, per the OP is $35.00/hr...then maybe it is strange, but not all facilities pay the same either. But if it is less than $35 and hour, then you haven't "lost" any pay, you are just seeing a different snapshot of the norm.

No, but i would love to get my hands on a comprehensive employment package. The purpose of this discussion post was to obtain knowledge. Thanks for sharing your insight i learned something new.

P.S. i am a new nurse ?

[Jory, MSN, APRN, CNM]

Just now, Lovethenurse2b25 said:

No, but i would love to get my hands on a comprehensive employment package. The purpose of this discussion post was to obtain knowledge. Thanks for sharing your insight i learned something new.

P.S. i am a new nurse ?

Most employers do not provide them with bedside RN positions, mainly because the cost breakdown in writing is a legal contract and they may not have that broken down by employee..but I just wanted everyone to know that you aren't really losing anything if they give you this option...PROVIDED, the end take-home is in line with what other places are paying.

Once you get into management, they will generally provide a more comprehensive package.

[klone, MSN, RN]

57 minutes ago, Lovethenurse2b25 said:

Employees received PTO hours and benefits. However the hourly wage did not decrease as a result of the incentives.

A nurse is trained to question anything that seems peculiar.

You're looking at it the wrong way - the wage does not decrease if you take incentives. The wage increases if you don't take the incentives. Many places do it like this. (my husband gets something like $500 back each month if he doesn't use his company's health insurance).

[203bravo, MSN, APRN]

While most of us understand the concept of what's happening here.. I can also see Lovethenurse2b25 frustration with the situation... don't tell me you are going to hire me at 35/hr and if you want to include PTO and/or medical then we are going to reduce your pay....

The company could present it better to their new hires by saying that we are going to hire you at 32/hr and by the way we are also going to give you 3/hr to spend on optional benefits.. if you chose not to participate in any or all the benefits then you get to keep the 3/hr... PTO is optional at 1.50/hr as is medical at 1.50/hr you can take one, both or none.

This would probably be easier for new hires to digest instead of thinking that they are being punished by having their pay reduced if they wish to participate in these benefits.