Now What?

classicdame, MSN, EdD · Mar 13, 2009

I am not clear: if you call in and someone works in your place, then you have not worked an extra shift. If you then make up the missed shift it might be extra that week. I think the manager is trying to prevent frequent call-ins and having to get contract to cover when regular staff is not there. Also, I have been in the situation where I filled in for other people, which caused me to make OT which put me at odds with my director. PLUS, I felt taken advantage of by my co-workers (espcially the one who called in frequently!). Sorry you are upset but I am not sure how to fix the problem.

dolphind · Mar 13, 2009

At the nursing home i worked at as a cna if you called in on the weekend then you had to work an extra shift the next weekend. But we were always short staffed anyway and call ins made it worse. I got yelled at for having so much overtime because they didnt want to pay it, then just not even an hour later was asked to work two doubles on my weekend off. That's 32 hours of overtime that they would have to pay. I was never offered a day off because i came in on mine or stayed an extra shift. Every place has different policies and honestly most of them suck.

Curious_53 · Mar 13, 2009

I think that classicdame is probably right, they are just trying to prevent such frequent call ins (2-3 sounds like an awful lot to me)!

But if you really think it is because of the money, maybe it would make you feel better to think that it will be saving patients money in the long run.

ERjodiRN · Mar 13, 2009

where i work we are required to work one on-call shift a year, and it has to be a sat or sun, when most of our sick calls come in. we choose our day, and it's a 12p-12a shift (work in the ER so we have mid-shifts). i think that the on-call nurse gets like $8/hr while not called in, which could be the entire shift....but if they get called in they get time & 1/2 for the hours they are in. and they ONLY get called in if absolutely necessary....not just to cover breaks for a few hours or something like that. and, a lot of the time the charge nurse on duty will call everyone else to see if they want to come in first before calling the on-call nurse. if someone calls in sick on the weekend, they are required to take one of the on-call shifts of the following weekend. if they aren't able to do it for whatever reason, it is their responsibility to find someone to cover them. it has worked pretty well for decreasing the amount of sick calls. and i don't think that your management is doing this solely to save money. you have to remember that they have a budget to keep, and if they are continuously paying people higher wages for extra shifts they shouldn't have to be working then they will go over budget and get in trouble with THEIR management. by setting up what they have now, it helps curtail the sick calls so that the staff is filling their required shifts each week. yes, sometimes people really are sick. but a lot of the time people just don't want to work, and this should help that. i'm sorry that it will be taking some of your extra money, but it's a good plan for your unit.

whodunit · Mar 13, 2009

Thanks for all the answers and I get where you are coming from; but think I didn't make myself clear.One or 2 of us always cover for the frequent call-ins, boss knows she can call me even if I'm not on call and if possible I'll come on in.The problem I have is that it seems the nurses who call in are costing more than they are worth because of us getting overtime, but I still don't think its fair that just because we are on mandatory call in, we have to then lose a regularly scheduled shift that they have to work, which knocks us out of the overtime.At least , the powers that be could say it is up to the nurse who is working the extra shift , then losing a shift to say which shift.I know I'd choose my Sat. nights off !