HR's mistake hurt my paycheck

Nurses General Nursing

Published

The BON gives us until the last day of the expiration month to renew our license. I renewed my RN license on the morning of 30th and checked to make sure I was showing on the Board's site as renewed. I was. I printed out the receipt and notified my director.

Two days later, I went to clock in for my 7p weekend night shift. The clock let me clock in. I went to the unit, took report (viewing computer chart data via the off-going nurse's log-in), and started caring for my patients. Later, when I finally had occasion to log-on, the computer wouldn't let me in.

The IT folks said I was locked out because of an expired license and that the only one who had the authority to change it was HR.

My clinical mgr. was as caught off guard as I. She'd already verified my renewal and, obviously, let me come to work. By the time she checked with the director and arranged for someone to take my assignment, and I gave report, it was after midnight. I'd worked roughly 6 hours. I was sent home for the weekend until HR could straighten things out.

Apparently our HR uses a 'third party' to handle much of it's processes, this included. I told my director I wanted to be paid not only for the time I worked but also for the time I missed due to the error--someone else's error, not mine.

Result: They are 'investigating it.'

Has anyone else had this happen to them?

What was the outcome?

Are there any laws that govern this, or are we at the mercy of company policy?

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Specializes in Complex pedi to LTC/SA & now a manager.

If you had a valid license and worked FLSA states you must be paid for hours worked. You may not be entitled to the portion you were sent home.

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In future years I would not wait until the last day to renew your license. If you hadn't you wouldn't be having this problem. I recently renewed my license 90 days before expiration and there was a glitch in the state system and despite charging my credit card 24 days later I still had no current hard copy or license almost 60 days later, nor did my expiration date change online. My issue is resolved at least online, still waiting for the hard copy license.

Yes you should be paid for all hours worked. Give the hospital a chance to correct this issue. If not contact your union if you have one and/or the state labor board.

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Any time you wait until the last minute to take care of something you run the risk of running into problems. I had no doubts about the threats one employer made to me one time concerning my license renewal. I got in my car and drove to the Board and did the transaction in person. I think they were disappointed that I made the deadline.

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.

Was there some special reason you waited until the last minute to renew your license? Didn't have the money to pay the fee, or forgot about it until the morning of the 30th?

I wouldn't expect the investigation to be settled in your favor. You waited until the very last moment to renew, and then you got burned. I'm sorry this happened to you, but it is a not-unexpected result of waiting until the last moment, especially when a weekend is involved. You probably know that HR, management and the BON don't work on weekends, right?

Chalk it up to experience and eat the damage to your paycheck.

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You waited until the last minute to renew and now you are upset because this happened? Seriously? You know basically 2 years in advance of when you need to renew. It's not like it jumped out from the shadows on the 29th.

Sorry, suck it up and learn to stop putting important things off until the last minute.

Btw: HR's mistake didn't hurt your paycheck. You did.

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Specializes in Medical Oncology, Alzheimer/dementia.

I work with a nurse that had something similar to this happen. She was sent home before she even started working. I believe she knew it could possibly happen because she waited until the last minute, but thought it would be okay because she had receipt of payment. I agree that it does suck, but now you know how serious your facility's policy is on license renewal. I would be very surprised if they paid you for the time you missed by getting sent home.

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Was there some special reason you waited until the last minute to renew your license? Didn't have the money to pay the fee, or forgot about it until the morning of the 30th?

I wouldn't expect the investigation to be settled in your favor. You waited until the very last moment to renew, and then you got burned. I'm sorry this happened to you, but it is a not-unexpected result of waiting until the last moment, especially when a weekend is involved. You probably know that HR, management and the BON don't work on weekends, right?

Chalk it up to experience and eat the damage to your paycheck.

We should renew as early as possible. Doing so does not, however, guarantee no trouble, as stated by a previous poster.

OP, why did your manager send you home if she'd already verified your renewal?

Someone should be on call for HR emergencies like this, though. You know someone could have reached the HR boss.

Still, if you want to keep your job, you might want to just take this beating, despite the unfairness of it. You could win the battle but lose the war. They'd just find something for which to fire you if you make them too mad. Yeah, it stinks being the powerless one, but count the potential cost before you start a war. Best wishes.

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You waited until the last minute to renew and now you are upset because this happened? Seriously? You know basically 2 years in advance of when you need to renew. It's not like it jumped out from the shadows on the 29th.

Sorry, suck it up and learn to stop putting important things off until the last minute.

Btw: HR's mistake didn't hurt your paycheck. You did.

Wow, you don't pull any punches! The only thing is, her manager had already verified the renewal. So how come the manager didn't stand up for her?

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In my state, one's expiration date is on their birthday. So even if the facility said it was "ok" to wait until the end of the month, I am not sure that many BON's grant an extentsion. So you were perhaps lucky that it went through if the date is the same in your state.

There are quite a few of us who know what it is like to live paycheck to paycheck. To avoid this myself (and I have 2 licenses to renew, and the continuing ed for both) I started to have $50 a pay period direct deposited into a seperate account at my bank, that is used only for my license renewal and continuing ed. It takes creative financing, however, it gives me the money I need to be able to take care of things in a timely manner.

If you were sent home, they may or may not pay you (and could say you were sent home on "unpaid" suspension. Yes, it does stink, however, make sure you verify what it all means--as you do NOT want a mark on your work record because of this.

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Wow, you don't pull any punches! The only thing is, her manager had already verified the renewal. So how come the manager didn't stand up for her?

No I don't. Sorry. I call it like I see it. I get so tired of the wah wah's from people when they screw up and them spending way more time blaming everyone else instead of just maning up and dealing with it.

Also, yeah her manager might have had all the information stating her license was good to go, but her manager is not HR. Pretty sure the HR department has their own check and balances in places, since that is what they get paid to do.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
Someone should be on call for HR emergencies like this, though. You know someone could have reached the HR boss.

A failure to plan on someone's part does not equal an emergency on someone else's part. I fail to see how this would constitute an emergency for HR when the OP had plenty of notice to get the license renewed.

No one should wait until the last minute for something as vital as a nursing license renewal. What if there are issues with the website? What if the credit card is rejected for some reason? There are far to many things that can go wrong from waiting until the last minute. Learn the lesson to be prepared and get things done well ahead of the due date.

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