Can you believe this??!!! ...and with a nursing shortage!

-jt · Jun 11, 2002

at my place you can hold 2 part time positions but if you are full time, you cant hold another position - you can only sign up for voluntary OT in the units you want to work

catlady, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2002

I can't imagine any facility that's going to hire someone into a scheduled OT position, where they're going to be forced to pay time-and-a-half every time the person walks through the door, nursing shortage or not. Particularly if the department budgets are decentralized--that OT is going to come straight out of the OR manager's budget.

Tiiki · Jun 11, 2002

I so feel for you. I am/was in a similar situation. I need to do some 'splaining to show what a ridiculous situation this all is. I am part of the Ottawa Hospital, which is 3 hospitals, diffent campuses. All one place right? Nawwwwwwww! I was attacked by a psychotic patient and really mucked up my shoulder. I was sent from the Géneral Campus to the Civic campus 'cause that was considered "lighter" as they employed more PCA's and orderlies. To start, I had to completely learn about their charting procedures etc. Totally different! I have been chomping on the bit trying to get back to my home base. Well, I'm going "home." Problem? My current nurse manager won't release me until June 24th. There are shifts in the ER I've been called in for, but had to refuse. Now the managers of both units are bickering. My current one says if I'm doing shifts at the other campus it means I'm not available to them. Sooooooo bloody petty! In short? I'm counting the miliseconds till I leave. It has been an experience, and a nightmare!

Cheers!

Jo-Anne :)

fedupnurse · Jun 11, 2002

We can't have more than one position in our health system. We can sign up for OT (and man there is plenty of that!) on our campus in a department we are qualified to work in. They will float you to a department you aren't qualified to work in, but you can't sign up for OT after you have been floated there. Suits...I just don't get their total lack of logic or common sense!

ceecel.dee, MSN, RN · Jun 11, 2002

You may have to stay active in the OR at another hospital. It's the OT that's mucking it up for you.

Zee_RN, BSN, RN · Jun 11, 2002

At our hospital, you cannot hold two positions at one time either. It IS a huge payroll problem. However, you can sign up for time on another unit and the managers have to figure out how to allocate the overtime. There are issues here, if you can commisserate with those who have to justify their budgets ands costs. No manager wants to pay for overtime on their unit because someone worked in another unit. The OT has to be allocated to the proper department--it doesn't come out of one big pot--and someone has to justify that cost to THEIR boss. I wouldn't be a nursing manager for all the tea in China!!! You wouldn't believe what they have to go through to justify their costs--even in the face of a huge nursing shortage.

Chances are it's not just an HR issue, it's managers. You have to have two very willing and cooperative managers here to manage the payroll issue. They have to "float" the costs back and forth and manage the issue. Having just come out of the HR department, I can't tell you how many times managers would tell employees "HR won't let us" rather than go through the extra trouble it takes to manage a payroll issue.

-jt · Jun 11, 2002

When a nurse takes 2 part time staff positions at my hospital, she receives full time benefits. One of our older nurses who can no longer do the physical labor of the bedside job just transferred from her full time position to 2 available part time positions - one in the hospitals clinic & one in an MD office at the hospital - no change in her benefits, salary, or hospital seniority.

Jay Levan · Jun 11, 2002

Definitive Anwer to "Are they on Crack?" YUP!

P_RN, ADN, RN · Jun 11, 2002

That's a ridiculous reason...."Payroll."

Sheesh surely they've heard of a TIME CARD?

When we work off our usual unit, it's at straight time. That unit pays us. We fill out a time card and the PAYROLL department has a second identifier for us. ie: 12345 12345a

DUH

fergus51 · Jun 11, 2002

Our hospital has to count anything over FT as OT pay, and no unit manager in thw world is going to schedule someone from another unit as OT, regularly. If there is any OT it goes to the regular unit staff.

disher · Jun 11, 2002

The payroll department told me that I was not allowed to work two part-time positions in the same hospital because they wouldn't be able to generate a cheque. Spent many hours getting it staightened out with payroll. Once payroll had it straight, human resources said I was not allowed to work two positions because the union contract prevented me from being scheduled OT (never got OT so this wasn't a problem). After clearing it with human resources, a colleague put in a grievance with the union saying my two part-time jobs were breeching the union contract (they were not). I never got to discuss the greivance with the instigater because she/he had the right to an anonymous greivance. One would think, given peoples reactions, that I had been declared queen of the hospital, too bad they couldn't see that I was working like a dog to the benefit of the hospital, not recieving special privledge. All the hassle made me realize that it just wasn't worth it. So I took a fulltime position instead.