Help- Nurses late for shift

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Hi All,

I am an LVN working in Home Health with 1 patient. I love the job and the patient is great but recently a situation has emerged that I need help with. The pt. has had a change in her funding sources for her 24 hour care needs. The staff that comes for the shift following mine comes from a different agency than the one I work for. They are constantly 10-15 minutes late. I cannot and never would leave the pt. thus I have to stay. I have spoken with my agency about this matter and they will not pay me for staying. I do not think this is fair. My agency will not speak with the other agency about this matter either. I have spoken to the replacement staff about this issue and it gets better for a few days but then goes back to tardy again. It is so disrespectful and irritating! I have been with this pt. for over 2 years and do not want to leave but this is really getting to me.

I would love any suggestions on how to handle this!

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The same thing used to happen to me and it irked me to no end. But my agency was attempting get the case lock, stock, and barrel. They hired some of the other agency nurses to fill in time slots and were playing the nurses off against each other. They treated the other nurses like royalty and me like you know what. So, I went to the other agency and did the same thing. Boy, did that anger them, to say the least. I told them what I thought about the nice wages they paid the competing agency nurses and they didn't have any respect for me by raising my wage to match. They refused to pay me for time I waited when the other nurses were late for the shift. Eventually things soured enough, that I ended up not working for them any more. This might happen to you. You are correct, you can not abandon the patient. You might want to file a claim with the Labor Board for the unpaid overtime. Sure, the agency will squeal that two nurses can not be paid for the same shift time, but the oncoming nurse is supposed to be clocking the actual time arrived, not her/his entire shift. There should be no problem getting paid what you are due, once you go to the Labor Board. Good luck.

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Specializes in Correctional, QA, Geriatrics.

If you are being paid hourly your employer is required to pay you for all time you work. If the relieving nurse is falsifying her time card that is not your responsibility.

Unfortunately it sounds as if you are, literally, caught in the middle of a struggle by the different agencies to see who gets the most funding for this client. The reality is you basically have 3 choices: continue to insist on being paid for the entire time you provide care, find another case, give up and accept not being paid for your time in full.

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Thank you for the thoughtful advice. I spoke with the other nurses yet again and they have been better the past few days.

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You can not rely on the good will of the other nurses in this matter. They have established a pattern of coming to work when they please. You should decide what you intend to do, whether it be put up with the situation as is, go to the labor board, or find another case. Good luck.

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you have to put the correct time you left on your timecard, otherwise you are falsifying your time! and if something happens after you have clocked out and before the other nurse gets there, who do you think they will hang out to dry? put the correct time, if they dont pay they dont pay but at least CYA......... some food for thought!

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Great Point! I think that is what I will start doing. You are right- we are suppose to put our actual worked shift times.

Thanks for the support!

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And keep copies of your time sheets. You never know, there may be a class action in the future for unpaid overtime and you will want to keep track of what you are owed.

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