is this illegal at work regarding pay

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At my current place of employment at this ltc/nursing home, u clock in and out when ur done with ur work but thing is, even if u stay extra u do not get paid for it. it is required that u have a really good excuse for staying late and u need to have it approved by the supervisor in order to get the pay for it. otherwise u can stay 1 or 2 hr late bc ur not done with ur medicare charting or what not (which is required each shift) and not get paid for it. even if u tell the superviser bc u have admissions or what not, its still not a valid excuse. however, if u clock in late, it will show what time u clock in on ur paystub but even if u clock out late, it will show that u leave exactly at 11:30 (i work 3-11 shift). so i usually stay a few min late when i come to work late to make up for it because it shows on my paystub but when i leave late it always say i leave on time and come on time. is this illegal? the only way someone gets ot in this facility is to work an extra day or shift. what should i do? if this is illegal, why has this been going on for years and years? or is this how most ltc and nursing homes run by? :down:

Specializes in Med/ surg,ortho.onc,supvsn.

I would contact the labor board in your state.If you are truly doing necessary work, they have to pay you.If you are just hanging out, then no.Is it a consistent issue that you have to stay after hours?

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Specializes in ER.
At my current place of employment at this ltc/nursing home, u clock in and out when ur done with ur work but thing is, even if u stay extra u do not get paid for it. it is required that u have a really good excuse for staying late and u need to have it approved by the supervisor in order to get the pay for it. otherwise u can stay 1 or 2 hr late bc ur not done with ur medicare charting or what not (which is required each shift) and not get paid for it. even if u tell the superviser bc u have admissions or what not, its still not a valid excuse. however, if u clock in late, it will show what time u clock in on ur paystub but even if u clock out late, it will show that u leave exactly at 11:30 (i work 3-11 shift). so i usually stay a few min late when i come to work late to make up for it because it shows on my paystub but when i leave late it always say i leave on time and come on time. is this illegal? the only way someone gets ot in this facility is to work an extra day or shift. what should i do? if this is illegal, why has this been going on for years and years? or is this how most ltc and nursing homes run by? :down:

most places have, for example, systems like KRONOS - and policies for punching in and out - they round up - so if you clock in at 1140am, it''ll show up as 11:45am. If you punch in at 12:02 pm, it clocks you at 11:15... something about 7 minute rounding up. This was in my facility's policy for clocking in and out. So I would clock in at 10:30am for an 11:00 shift and get paid for the little extra time, rather than risking punching in at 11:01 and be counted as late by another 14 minutes... it's confusing. You should get paid or not paid by the minute. What the heck????!!!! I'm sure it's to make paycheck computations easier... rounding up or down for even numbers...? Not sure. Never thought too much about it - just knew I'd clock in at whatever time and clock out to get my time (of course making sure I get my "no lunch" time!)

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Specializes in ER.
If you arrive late for work, and clock in late, which means after the time that you are supposed to start; the employer is not required to pay you the full time even if you stay over the extra few minutes.

also - here's a big concern: if you clock in at 7:05am and you KNOW you weren't there at 7am, but your time card reflects 7:00am you punched in (because it was altered by your time person) and a code occurs at 7:01am... that could put you potentially into a situation that you weren't even in...and having some responsibility (say if you're the main RN in a SNF)- so you should get that straightened out... or keep GOOD track of your punch in and out times and when they're adjusted... to CYA.

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Specializes in ER.
so ideally ur suppose to leave wen ur shift ends bc ur not getting paid for it. but if ur caught with not documenting that day u will get a notice for not being compliant with the medicare guidelines and have to document on another day for a late entry. so basically that day ur doing double the charting. and things can get pile up that way and eventually you will still never finish your work. One nurse who worked there one time had to cover about 40-50 residents because one nurse was a no-show. the facility did send a nurse to help him pass the night meds but he ended up staying about 2 hours late. he talked with administrator about being reimbursed for staying extra and they say no because u have your easy days and u have ur hard days. its not fair to the facility that they have to pay u for the hard days when they dont take money off from ur check when you have ur easy days. and that was a the reply....:uhoh21:

someone needs a boot up their heinie for making a comment like that - sounds like that management needs to be reminded you all are NOT salaried... so yep, call the above references on labor and wage complaints. I wouldn't finish an admission - heck no. I'd say, well if I'm going to stay and finish that WORK, then I'll get paid for it - otherwise the oncoming RN can finish it, since they're on the clock. Adios! (Then I'd go find another job....) :twocents:

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Specializes in Emergency & Trauma/Adult ICU.
most places have, for example, systems like KRONOS - and policies for punching in and out - they round up - so if you clock in at 1140am, it''ll show up as 11:45am. If you punch in at 12:02 pm, it clocks you at 11:15... something about 7 minute rounding up. This was in my facility's policy for clocking in and out. So I would clock in at 10:30am for an 11:00 shift and get paid for the little extra time, rather than risking punching in at 11:01 and be counted as late by another 14 minutes... it's confusing. You should get paid or not paid by the minute. What the heck????!!!! I'm sure it's to make paycheck computations easier... rounding up or down for even numbers...? Not sure. Never thought too much about it - just knew I'd clock in at whatever time and clock out to get my time (of course making sure I get my "no lunch" time!)

The rounding should be done consistently according to US Dept. of Labor regulations.

This is from a DOL Fact Sheet issued 1/2008:

" ... Some employers track employee hours worked in 15 minute increments, and FSLA allows an employer to round employee time to the nearest quarter hour. However, an employer may violate the FLSA minimum wage and overtime pay requirements if an employer always rounds down. Employee time from 1 to 7 minutes may be rounded down, and thus not counted as hours worked, but employee time from 8 to 14 minutes must be rounded up and counted as a quarter hour of work time. See Regulations 29 CFR 785.25(b). ... "

http://www.hospitalovertime.com/documents/DOL-fact_sheet_53.pdf

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Specializes in cardiology.

It is more surprising what is happening here in the middle east. You are paid according to your race, nationality or color. If you are a western trained nurse with a western passport (US, UK, Canada, Australia and the likes), you are paid 3 times higher than a far eastern trained nurse (Philippines, India) and if you are a middle eastern nurse you will be paid in between. The irony is, you are mandated by the law to take same licensing exam and when you passed and get deployed to your area of assignment you will have the same amount of responsibility and accountability toward your patients. And not only that with the benefits and allowances there are huge difference. You might start to ask, "Why the hell are you there wasting your time?". Well, we each have our reasons why we chose this profession. The main reason that I am still here is that my husband has a well established job here and I do not want him to start all over again. But my point is, why don't we have a worldwide campaign against discrimination with nurses? We as nursed do not discriminate patients who comes under our care, but why discriminate us? I am so surprised that JCIA re accredited this institution. I do not blame why nurses leave and there is a high turn over of nursing staff, and the reason for leaving is dissatisfaction towards the policy of salary discrimination.

The other thing is, we are not allowed to have a union within the institution or outside the institution,it is illegal, so if you have a legal or administrative case you are at the mercy of your employer, good if they terminate you right away and send you home, worst when you are delivered to the custody of police then goodbye, you will not see the morning sunshine anymore until your case is solved and you are released.

It is easy to decide to leave and go to a place where all is fair and good, but, think about it, nursing is a universal profession. Wherever there is a patient you are nurse by oath. Every nurse whether western, middle eastern, far eastern, african or whatever should be treated according to standards that will make them live comfortably wherever time zone they are working.

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I would report this nonsense to the laor department of your state as well as the Department of Labor at the federal level. This is another argument for the employee free choice act. If you were unionized you would be paid for the time PERIOD because you would have a written agreement that defines hours of work and OT.

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It is very illegal- and if it has been going on for over a year-- the state will refer you to the feds.

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Specializes in Maternal - Child Health.

babybumblebee,

Please forgive me for making an assumption. Based on your writing, I am guessing that you are not a native of the U.S. I suspect that you work at a facility that has recruited and relies heavily on immigrant nurses who may not be familiar with basic U.S. labor laws. I believe you are being taken advantage of big time, and probably your co-workers as well. I also suspect that you fear reprisal and possible loss of your Visa if you speak up. This is typical of the unscrupulous facilities that staff in this manner. Please consider seeking legal advice from your state agency.

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no im a citizen of the us. i know i dont use capitalizations and apostrophes when i should, thats just how i chat in a informal way lol (of course formal writing will be different). i would say the place is a mixture of non-immigrants and immigrant nurses. some of the nurses (americans) have been there for years. i dont know if i want to report on such behavior because im very new to the facility. even if they are paying me back for those hours, it is not a lot of money (maybe a couple hundred?). i feel it will cause a big damage to this place and i dont know if thats what i want. another thing i dont like about this place is that there is no acuity measurement. the people who work on the more acute floors (trach and g-tubes) get paid the same as the regular floors. not only that, but the nurse is still dealing with about 23-25 residents no matter what floor you are on.

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Specializes in mostly in the basement.
it's good to be the accountant! legal or not, it's the way it is. i haven't taken lunch in 30 years and have yet to be paid for it. i'm also supposed to get sick time and 1-15 minute breaks but that doesn't happen either. i'm not sure what other profession would put up with the nonsense nursing has put up with for years and years and years and years.

While I agree with you in theory and certainly know these things happen, at what point do we take the blame off of 'nursing' and instead point it at those who continue to be willing to put up with it?

Picking up the phone and calling the Dept. of Labor or Wage and Hour is not an excessively demanding task. I know abuse is rampant and everyone has a story but sometimes the onus really is on the employee....

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It's illegal. And you should NEVER work off the clock. If something happens to you workman's comp won't pay. And if you are taking care of a patient off the clock and something goes wrong you will be in a load of poop.

You need to call your state labor board TODAY. They will investigate. Tell those you trust and work with to do the same. This is illegal.

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