How many of you are forced to clock out to stay back and chart?

DizzyLizzyNurse · Jul 12, 2012

I work at a LTC facility in Illinois. The DON and the Administrator will personally walk any of the nurses or CNA's that are there past their shift working. It's so wrong that we can not finish the work we have to do. I personally have 53 patients per night that I have to medicate and do treatments on! The majority of the time I can NOT finish my charting which is unsafe and I don't want to be held liable. This is just the sign of the times. Nurses are being asked to do the job of 2 nurses, not getting their lunches or breaks that they aren't getting paid for, and we are not able to give the kind of care that is right.

Have you pointed out that the facility can be held liable for lack of charting? If this were me I'd be tempted to write Unable to chart due to the director of nursing forcing me to leave before I could finish." Or something. Call the BON or something. This is bugging me. There's gotta be something you can do.

martymoose, BSN, RN · Jul 12, 2012

Are the facilities really responsible?? I dont think so Thats why they do what they do. They know it's YOUR license on the line , not theirs.They know you can go bye-bye, and someone will slide right in behind you. And on , and on, and on. They could care less if your charting isnt done. It goes on YOU not them. Jerks.

Home Health Columnist / Guide · Jul 12, 2012

compliance assistance employment law guid

]have you been working "off the clock"? | overtime pay complaints

what does employ mean?
the flsa defines the term "employ" to include the words "suffer or permit to work". suffer or permit to work means that if an employer requires or allows employees to work, the time spent is generally deemed to be hours worked.
what is working off the clock?
time spent doing work not requested by the employer, but still allowed by the employer, is generally considered hours worked, since the employer knows or has reason to believe that the employees are continuing to work off the clock and the employer is benefiting from the work being done off the clock. this time is commonly referred to or known as "working off the clock."
common examples of working off the clock or hours worked under the flsa (for which overtime pay is generally due) might include:
an employee who voluntarily continues to work at the end of regular working hours.
[*=1]an employee who needs to finish an assigned task, prepare reports, finish waiting on a customer or take care of a patient in an emergency.[*=1]an employee who may take work home to complete in the evening or on weekends to meet a deadline.[*=1]an employee who checks, reads and/or reviews work-related emails (whether on a handheld pda or wireless telephone device or on a home computer, etc.), or listens to work-related voicemail messages while away from the office or workplace[*=1]an employee who must correct mistakes in his or her work. the time must be treated as hours worked. the correction of errors, or "rework", is hours worked, even when the employee voluntarily does the rework.[*=1]an employee who waits to do work. time which an employee is required to be at work or allowed to work for his or her employer is hours worked. a person hired to do nothing or to do nothing but wait for something to do or something to happen is still working. employees subject to the flsa must be paid for all the time spent in physical or mental exertion (whether burdensome or not) controlled or required by the employer and pursued necessarily and primarily for the benefit of the employer of his business.[*=1] an employee who spends time putting on or taking off (i.e., donning and doffing) protecting gear, clothing or uniforms (e.g., anti-static smocks, goggles, shoe strips, and hand strips) and waiting in line to have the gear, clothing or uniforms checked before they began their shifts.
hours worked off the clock include all the time during which an employee is required or allowed to perform work for an employer, regardless of where the work is done, whether on the employer's premises, at a designated work place, at home or at some other location.
it is the duty of management to exercise control over their employees and see that work is not performed off the clock if the employer does not want it to be performed. an employer cannot sit back and accept the benefits of an employee's off the clock work without considering the time spent to be hours worked. merely making a rule against such off the clock work is not enough. the employer has the power to enforce the off the clock rule and must make every effort to do so. employees generally may not volunteer to perform work without the employer having to count the time as hours worked

ask questions or file a complaint:

u.s. department of labor-wage and hour division (whd)-state labor offices

msn10 · Jul 12, 2012

Nurses allow this kind of abuse because we have refused to do the only thing that will help us- UNIONZE!!!

You don't need a union to solve the problem, it is against the law and you can write your nursing board and the your state's labor board as well. Hold off on the attorney until you go to your state's website to see the specific instructions on how to handle the problem. Many states have paid representatives that listen to you on a case by case basis and tell you how to proceed. Some people like unions, I had the opposite experience. We had a situation with union involvement which ended up polarizing the nurses at a facility I use to work at and many left because of the union, not the workplace. Because of the plethora of newer labor laws in the last 10 years, many things can be handled through labor laws.

HelloM1M1 · Jul 19, 2012

Thanks for all the wonderful advice! I put in my 2 weeks noticed after the long talk with management and no probable solution was brought up. They told me all the other nurses could do the tasks in the assigned time (in plain words: you're a lazy liar), & that I have time management issue. In reality, the other nurses wouldn't want to speak up for themselves, and was afraid to lose their job (b/c they're not US citizens, it's hard for them in this job market). After they told me that if I'm not capable of doing all these tasks, then maybe skilled nursing is not right for me, that was the last draw. The original comment was "Maybe nursing is not right for you" but I'll take it that he meant this type of nursing is not right for me.

So yes, I'll write to the California Board of Nursing to actually investigate all the SNFs. Maybe my letter would not make a difference, but at least it is a first step to end this kind of crazy world. I encourage of y'all who are going through the same thing as me to write to your board of nursing and also the labor law department.

I resigned because I refuse to participate in illegal acts.

DizzyLizzyNurse · Jul 19, 2012

Make sure you also contact the labor board.

Simply Complicated · Jul 20, 2012

I would contact the labor board, they will go investigate!

BrandonLPN, LPN · Jul 20, 2012

You don't need a union to solve the problem, it is against the law and you can write your nursing board and the your state's labor board as well. Hold off on the attorney until you go to your state's website to see the specific instructions on how to handle the problem. Many states have paid representatives that listen to you on a case by case basis and tell you how to proceed. Some people like unions, I had the opposite experience. We had a situation with union involvement which ended up polarizing the nurses at a facility I use to work at and many left because of the union, not the workplace. Because of the plethora of newer labor laws in the last 10 years, many things can be handled through labor laws.

But if this facility had been unionized, this never would have happened in the first place. Plus laborers and managers are polarized by nature, not by unions.