Does your facility do this?

[handyrn]

I am relatively new at a job and heard something today that is not sitting well with me. I was told today that if your shift ends at 2pm, you are paid until 2pm, no later! If you have to stay until 3:30 (or whenever) to get caught up on meds, charting, etc, too bad. You get paid until 2pm and that's it.

I was under the impression that federal law states that if you are allowed to stay and work past your hours, you had to be paid for them. The only way they could deny payment is if they forced you to leave at 2pm then you wouldn't get paid past 2pm, however, if you are allowed or required to stay and finish your work, doesn't law state that they have to pay you?

[MomRN0913]

At our facility all OT must be approved, so yes they must pay you for all hours worked. They track who has overtime and why and probably will result in counseling for "time management issues."

This is exactly what I have been told. You have to pay employees for the time they have clocked in and out. It's a legality. When I do payroll, I can't change time. However, if you see employees consistently working OT, they need to be counseled. I worked with a nurse who always signed the OT book for 9:30pm when the shift ends at 7:30 always stating the reason being "very busy" needless ot say, she never was, her time management just sucked.

[FLArn]

Employers get away with "it" because it is not reported. If you work until 3:30 you clock out at 3:30. If you do not get paid for all your hours, Report it to the labor relations board. I worked in staffing and payroll in a former life and believe me you will get paid for all hours on your time record. The fines for companies that get caught are NOT just a slap on the wrist! Payroll and time records MUST match down to the quarter hour.

Will you get counseled for time management probably. But remember if you are off the clock and get hurt in the facility you will not be eligible for workers comp. and will not be covered under the employers malpractice. Not worth it!

[Art_Vandelay]

This is a slimy tactic that employers do because if we don't get paid they make more profit. They don't want to pay you, but they give you WAY too much work to reasonably finish in the shift, especially the first and second shifts with all the discharges and admissions for nurses with 40 +patients. And the previous posters are right, the economy is allowing companies to get away it. It's hard to put up a fight when someone is waiting to fill your spot.

[gettingbsn2msn, MSN, RN]

My problem with all of this is the ceo makes 750,000/yr at my last facility. This was a small place as well so I would imagine that most make more. His bonus depends on how much he saved in overtime, ect. Since he cannot live on 750k a year we have to suck it up.

[Batman25]

What they are suggesting is illegal. You are to be paid for all the time you work. If they don't you call the Dept of Labor and report them. It is taken seriously by them. Don't let them get away with taking advantage of you and behaving in an unethical and illegal way.

Also, if you punch out and work you aren't covered by worker's comp and insurance because you aren't on the clock at that time. They will hang you out to dry.

[MunoRN, RN]

They have to pay you for that time if you are performing required job duties, charting requirements are based on facility policy, so if you staying over to finish charting then they have to pay you. If they have a written policy just send it to the US labor department: http://www.dol.gov/whd/contactform.asp

[ICUnurse1985]

Thanks for letting me know I am not alone. This has been going on at my facility for over a year now. They don"t want you to stay late for any reason. They want you to leave on time no matter what the situation. Do what you can and walk away at quitting time. They donot want you to clock out and then finish your work because it is against Labor Laws where I live but alot of people do just that since you will also be "counseled" if your documentation is not complete. Talk about a "Catch 22"!!! I don"t want to quit since it is the only place I want to work where I live and I donot want to move, plus I can retire with benefits in 1 year. I try to focus on what I love, patient care and adapt to the rest. Anyone remember the good old days when you could work late without being hassled? We didn"t know how blessed we were. The only constant is change, perhaps this too will change with time. I hope so.

[Glageman]

At my hospital, all OT needs to be approved. The employee writes the hours and the reason in our konos book. Our manager needs to approve it. Then, payment is received.

[handyrn]

Thanks for the replies. I was sure it was illegal not to pay for the hours worked. I am actually only 2 months into this job and my normal duties are NOT to do direct resident care, however, the facility was short staffed and they asked me to pick up some shifts on the floor. Well, because I had never been oriented to the floor, I ended up behind and clocking out late. I haven't gotten the "official" word on this whole thing yet, but other employees are telling me that we are only paid for the scheduled time. Oh, here's another kicker, no time clock. We write our hours on a paper. So, it would be easy for the facility to alter. Payday is coming up so I guess we will see what happens.

[FLArn]

We also use a paper time sheet and I always copy mine so I can verify my paid hours are correct. Not because I fear that they are trying to short me but because everyone is human and mistakes happen. In your case I would definitely be making a copy and checking it. Also if they do alter your time record, this is your proof for the labor relations board. There would be HEFTY fines for such behavior.

[Jenni811, RN]

No. there have been plenty of times where i had to stay late.

for example, i was working a NOC and my shift was supposed to end at 7:00 am. But my patient coded at 6:45 am. No way am i going to leave the day shift nurse with this, she doesn't even know the patient. So i ended up staying till about 9:30am when things settled down a little and the previous nurse felt comfortable with me leaving.

the hopsital may not like it because then you have to get paid time and a half, may not look good on your part but it would have looked alot worse if my just LEFT while my patient was coding. I can see it now "CODE BLUE....See ya guys. have a nice shift"