exempt status for bedside RN's

HappyNurse2005, RN · Feb 16, 2006

Exempt from what? From being paid overtime? Once you hit 40 hours, every minute afterwards should be overtime.

jonear2, RN · Feb 16, 2006

At our facility OT is calculated by the day. Every minute after 7:15 is overtime. Plus if you work the 4th day you are on overtime. Its good for the nurse who has to stay late but management gts cranky if you repeatedly stay late. however if your unit is understaffed, they will ask you to work extra days. I am not sure what you mean by "exempt" though so if you could post a clarification that would be appreciated

thanx

amy

ljds · Feb 16, 2006

Am I reading this right; you would get paid for 11.5 hours, even if you had to stay late and work, say 13 hours?

I see two situations arising; one is that people quit and go work in an environment that pays them for their time.

The other is that, when the shift is over, the staff leaves, regardless of whether paperwork, etc is finished or not.

Either way, it sounds like a steaming pile of you-know-what to me, IF I am understanding your proposal correctly. I would personally choose the first option, of quitting your facility, to find a facility that valued me more.

We *do* have a policy that states we cannot punch in early, unless it was specifically cleared by the nursing supervisor or department director. If you punch in early and it was NOT cleared, you are not paid for that extra time. Perhaps a similar policy would be helpful in preventing people from punching in but not working, without punishing people for finishing their work and doing their job well.

Lori

RazorbackRN, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2006

i am working on a project at my hospital for the bedside nurses to become exempt but subjetc to overtime. We do not have mandatory OT, so that is not an issue. If the nurse works 4 or more hours over 40 (voluntarily) the nurse recieves the special pay of base rate plus one half of base pay. Does any one work at a hospital where this has been put into practice? If so, how was it? What did you like or dislike about it. The nurses are supposed to work 11.5 hours a day. So going "exempt" means that they would get paid for 11.5 hours a day regardless of when they punch in or out unless it was 15 hours or more in that day. When we did the study the majority of stafff punched in early, and created fractional time at the tune of over 20,000 a year. The staff said they wanted to keep coming in early to socialize etc. The only way the can do that is to pay the s straight 11.5 hours a day. This means if they stay late (30 minutes) due to patient acuity they would not be paid for it. Only if they work four hours over.

I'm sorry, and I don't mean to be rude, but this is the dumbest thing I've ever heard of.

I wouldn't work a day in your facility under these rules. I expect to be paid for every bit of my work.

sjt9721, BSN, RN · Feb 16, 2006

Instead of changing bedside nurses to exempt status, I think ljds has your answer:

We *do* have a policy that states we cannot punch in early, unless it was specifically cleared by the nursing supervisor or department director. If you punch in early and it was NOT cleared, you are not paid for that extra time. Perhaps a similar policy would be helpful in preventing people from punching in but not working, without punishing people for finishing their work and doing their job well.

loricatus · Feb 16, 2006

Exempt status goes both ways. The employee would have to be paid the 11.5 hours if they only stayed at work for 1 minute (&, possibly if they were scheduled and didn't show up for work, without having to pull from vacation or sick time accrued). I really think you should consult a labor lawyer about this and make a decision based upon which way has the potential to really cost you the most money.