Survey - allnurses.com : Do you report overtime for missed breaks or late charting?

dharma143 · Oct 2, 2002

i didn't used to....but now i always do! my line is, "i work for a corp....i don't donate to them...if they don't pay me for ot, there are plenty of places that will!"

zudy · Oct 2, 2002

I work, I get paid. nuff said.

frankie · Oct 3, 2002

I do not work for free.

schrandt · Oct 3, 2002

I didn't use to claim overtime, but I got sick & tired of waiting for one particular nurse to get to the floor. We have 7 minutes leeway before & after the shift end to clock in & she always pushed the policy to the limit. Fortunately, I was the one who redid our policy manual 2 years ago, and we changed the wording, so she can lo longer fall back on the policy.

I do not claim overtime if we stand around and discuss issues not related to our work, but if we run late due to a heavy patient load/acuity/running ER, you bet I do. Like many of you have stated, it hardly seems worthwhile to claim 15 or 20 minutes, but it does add up. So far administration hasn't yelped about it, but none of us abuse it either. We also detail our reasons and have our co-worker initial the sheet as well.

patadney · Oct 3, 2002

Of course,i claim all missed lunches as we clock in and out and 30 min is automatically deducted for lunch breaks.

We hjave to fill out a form .but everyone knows why-we are running a census way,way over budget,the superviser has to sign,but there's no problem with that. I do not worry about 15 min breaks,figuring I should be able to work them in. It is illegal to be working in the hospital and not be on the clock-we used to come in an hour early to draw meds and punch in at the reg time in order to get the work done. The hospital lawyer put a stop to that. I think it has something to do with workmen's comp.

Scavenger'sWife, RN · Oct 3, 2002

Of course I do. Not for breaks (What is that anyway??) but I do for lunch. Otherwise, I would not get the pay as our hospital also automatically deducts 30 min. I am on a committee that I do chart reviews to gather data for , and I also charge for that time. No one has ever said anything to me yet for any of the time I charge out. We are very understaffed and I think they know the staff would rebel if we didn't get the pay we should get when days are too hectic to even eat. Sometimes supervision even gets lunches brought up to the floor for everyone, free of charge and we get paid for lunchtime then too.

rebelwaclause, ASN, RN · Oct 4, 2002

It's frowned upon...But YEP...Without a doubt!

pabamick · Oct 4, 2002

State Law in California says if you miss your 1/2 lunch break or both of your small breaks (morning and afternoon), besides paying you 1 1/2 times for lunch, the employer must pay 1 hour of straight time penalty pay for lunch and 1 hour for both breaks combind. After giving up my lunch 1/2hr. for about 10 years in the ICU-CCU I work in, the majority of the nurses finally said " If you don't find someone to come releave of us of all our duties for 1/2 hr we are charging you for the 1/2hr. and the penalty pay. In ICU in California this means 1:2 staffing at all times, even during lunch time. That means I don't watch someone elses pts. while another nurse goes to lunch. Someone with no pt. assissgnment must come up and releave you. I would say we get lunch off the floor away from our pts. about 90% of the time now. It took one month of missed breaks and lunches totally about $10,000 for coverage from the charge nurse or swat nurse to happen.

-jt · Oct 4, 2002

so a 30 minute lunch break is still not a courtesy - its required by law & if you do not get it, the hospital is required to pay you for it. Tenet is being now sued by thousands of RNs for not doing so.

frankie · Oct 5, 2002

i always count every hour, minute, etc...that i work. i do not understand working for free.

crazygirl · Oct 6, 2002

same here we get 30 minute lunch deducted automatically...sucks huh? we can get that exempted if we have the manager sign... but usually dont worry about it

Nighshft · Oct 7, 2002

Most of the nurses on my unit don't do anything but complain when we miss our breaks. The Director of nursing has announced that all nurses are entitled to breaks and if we don't get them it's because WE aren't organized in getting our work done ( yea - right- I don't see her down in the trenches helping us....)

I always write it across my timesheet, ut we don't get paid for it. I do , however like to draw their attention to it - I wish all the nurses would - then maybe something would happen.