Is It Possible An LPN Can Make More Then An RN?

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I'm an RN. I work for a well known national home care agency. Somehow payroll mixed up our paychecks; I got her (she is an LPN ) hourly rate of pay on my paycheck and she got mine.

I found out she was making $23.00 an hour but I am making $21.00, and we both work on the same cases, so the acuity level of the clients is the same. She has been with this particular office for 2 years. I been with this office for 5 months. How do i approach the clinical manager about how unfair that is? (We also have the same level of experience)

Yes in certain rare instances LPN's will make more money than RN's. An LPN who has YEARS of experience could very well be making more money than a new grad or 1-2 year experience RN...now don't get your knickers in a wad, those of us who've put in years and years of work SHOULD be making more than a new grad RN or LPN. I'm sure in a few years you as an RN will surpass the LPN wages.

And as others say, if you like your job it's a big no no to discuss others wages. A big mistake was made by accounting that let you in on private, privilaged info, so if you like your job...don't discuss it with anyone, buck up and realize that over the years your earning potential will far surpass that of an LPN's.

Years ago I was doing agency work at a large well known teaching hospital, I was on nights and my floor super was a brand new grad just turned loose on the floor. Because of my agency status my scope of practice was less than what would have been normal for an employee LPN. We had a patient come to the floor that needed a foley cath inserted...sigh, this woman had never put one in and never seen it done, I on the other had been doing the procedure for years. But because of my "temp" status I couldn't do it and it was up to her to insert the foley. Soooo, she called her night manager and was told to do it. So to be pro active and do what was best for the patient interests, I voluntered to to "talk her through it". Which I did, she managed to do it without too much trauma to the patient. Yet, when she gave me my eval for the night, she requested NOT to work with me again:mad:. I'll assume she was embarrassed that OMG an LPN knew more than she did and didn't want to be reminded of it by seeing me again. Fortunatly the night manager figured it out and refused to submit the report and made one of her own...Now my point of this long story is; Should she have been making more than me...I think not. I'm sure one day she surpassed my wages but not then...not that night.

I would have been tempted to meet her in the parking lot, the snippy little @#*+=. Or was there more to this story? What did she have to say as to exactly why she didn't want to work with you again?

That reminds me of the time I took it upon myself to make sure an agency nurse knew a few important details about our facility the 1st time she worked there - like dinner time, where supplies were kept and where the supply key was, stuff like that. Who needed crushed meds and in what, who liked to go to bed immediately after eating, who was a night owl. You know, report. She became enraged and insulted, threatened to walk out and leave me with all the patients, refused to take off her headphones while passing meds, and said she'd see ME in the parking lot.

I should have reminded her of the definition of "abandonment". I swear I was honestly only trying to help. I had the purest of intentions. Yet, I was misunderstood. That hurt a lot. It was then that I figured I would never volunteer help again, as some people think they're being disrespected. They do not take kindly to "mothering". So the H with them, ya know? As for concern for patients, it gets you in trouble with people like this.

No good deed goes unpunished, for real.

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This is funny. What a shame a little lowly LPN is making more than a great big RN. Never mind that she may be a valuable asset to the company. Have you ever thought maybe she is a GREAT nurse who has excellent skills and dependable? Maybe she is I don't know..........very good at her Job. Are you saying that just because she is an LPN she MUST be making less than that RN?Maybe when she was hired she was smart enough, even though she is an LPN, to make sure her pay equaled her value. I know it is hard for some people to process the words smart and LPN in the same sentence.

I really am saddened when LPN's assume that RN's look down on them. I, for one, do not.

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I really am saddened when LPN's assume that RN's look down on them. I, for one, do not.

I dont know why rns look down on lpns because I was an lpn for 4 years. i have been on both sides of the fence,so i would never do that. but just as there are rns that look down on lpns, there are an equal number of Lpns who dont like rns for the simple fact that they are Rn's. I dont know if they think that i automatically assume things or the fact that many Lpn's are older with way more experience and resent young Rns maybe?

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At my agency a number of RNs worked with me in a home doing shifts. They all told me they were being paid at the rate of an LPN. An RN hired by the agency would be doing admissions and periodic visits to homes every 30 days or whatever was specified on the 485 form. If they didn't want to do that, they took a cut in pay. The 485- I've never seen them divide skilled nursing hours into RN hours and LPN hours. Nor have I ever seen a home care patient who was sick enough to have their plan of care mandate that an RN must take care of the patient for 8-12 hours 24/7. To be in home care you have to be stable enough that a caregiver or family member takes care of the patient for the 8 hrs (as in this example) out of the 16 to make 24.

Lots of things affect people's wages- but to get to the bottom of it you'd have to be asking a lot of personal questions about that nurse's particular situation which is not appropriate because you inadvertently received her salary information without her consent.

Agencies do a lot of wacky things. Half the time I don't think they even know what's going on in their own agency. If this is that huge octopus of a company we all know and love (not!!)-they change managers every 3 months or so. It makes consistency a total moving target. One time I did talk to a manager about my wages compared to other people, but it was vaguely worded - no names or specifics- and he promptly on the spot gave me a dollar raise!! I may have fainted, I'm not sure. Never hurts to ask!!

Im going to just get out of this state and go back to my homestate because they just have better regulations. i dont understand how the offices are the same company but have different rules, as if they are run independently of each other? I have never heard of private duty agencies having a union but i think we really need one. I wonder how would we go about getting one with this monster of an agency?

Most of these agencies are at will employment which i think is really rough for the employee. We make money for these agencies and we get little or no bennies, no sick days, no vacation, and on top of that its dangerous. this is a very tough area of nursing to be in and on top of that we even get disrepected by other nurses in other specialties.

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If the company is the one I am thinking of, nurses in our office tried to bring in a union but it was voted against by the employees. The hh agency that was union was a local agency.

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I think someone touched on this, but depending on the job, it is possible for both RNs and LPNs to start on the same pay scale. If the skill set and job is the same, especially in home care, it is possible. I know it is frustrating, but I've worked with many agency/perdiems that make more than I do but have less responsibilty. And many times seemed to really not know what they were doing. On the other hand I've worked with some excellent agency/per diems worth every dime.

I see no reason why you can't ask what the pay scale is for both LPNs and RNs and what type of pay increases can be expected. I rec'd one ladie's pay stub by mistake and did not notice it until later. She had been at my facility longer but was making less then me...not sure why since she is an excellent nurse and we are union.

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If the company is the one I am thinking of, nurses in our office tried to bring in a union but it was voted against by the employees. The hh agency that was union was a local agency.

why would employees vote against themselves?:eek:

oh, this agency has the same name as a magazine.

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Specializes in Peds/outpatient FP,derm,allergy/private duty.
Im going to just get out of this state and go back to my homestate because they just have better regulations. i dont understand how the offices are the same company but have different rules, as if they are run independently of each other? I have never heard of private duty agencies having a union but i think we really need one. I wonder how would we go about getting one with this monster of an agency?

Most of these agencies are at will employment which i think is really rough for the employee. We make money for these agencies and we get little or no bennies, no sick days, no vacation, and on top of that its dangerous. this is a very tough area of nursing to be in and on top of that we even get disrepected by other nurses in other specialties.

True, true, true. I really love the job, if it wasn't for that pesky agency thing. :) I'm only kind of kidding. If you ever happen to find out how much the agency is paid to hire people compared to what any nurse (LPN, RN) makes and the lack of benefits-- grrrr. :mad:

Why would nurses vote against having a union? Earlier in my career the unions made a huge effort to organize our hospital- they were able to get enough petition signatures to mandate a vote. The battle was on! The hospital was required by law to give the union all our home addresses and phone numbers. Management had meetings and more meetings comparing their wages/benefits to union hospital wages/benefits and what they would be with union dues subtracted. The union reps showed up unannounced to our houses and sent us newspapers depicting the hospital as evil bloodsuckers from hel l. They rapped on our car windows and shoved flyers in our cars. It was nuts!!:bugeyes:

In the end, the union lost. Here's why I think that happened. First, RNs and LPNs were in completely different unions. The LPNs were in the union that had janitors, racetrack workers, and maybe laundry. Can't remember exactly. The RNs had their own union. We can see right there how RN vs LPN crap hurts all of us. Second, our hospital had good management, competitive wages and benefits, so most people just didn't see the need. Third, the heavy-handed tactics of the union turned a lot of people off. They tried to convince us basically that the hospital was a sweat-shop factory when it really wasn't.

Now, I wish all nurses could work together- I had a very good employer then. It's worse now. Organizing a hospital was not easy. Organizing an agency with employees scattered around would be very hard. I wish we could do it, though.

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why would employees vote against themselves?:eek:

oh, this agency has the same name as a magazine.

Yeah, I knew it was that one. Well, I would have to say that it wasn't the nurses voting against themselves, it was the nurses voting against the underhanded tactics of those who were trying to bring in the union. They did some unprofessional and unsafe stuff and generally turned a majority of the others against them. The unionizing attempt was not an effort to make things better for the employees and patients, but a retaliatory effort against the management by disgruntled former employees. They tried to make their personal vendetta into something for everyone else when the majority of the people were happy to have a job and were satisfied with things as they were.

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update: I eventually did ask a recruiter and nurse manager about the glitch. According to them, insurance companies no longer reimburse that much more for an Rn, maybe only $5 to $10 more. I asked them since I get paid about the same rates as Lpns can I refuse to do the tasks that require an Rn like piccs,insertion of ngt on infants, and broviac and he said no. My question is if i should ask them to demote me to the Lpn title? sorry just venting.

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An excuse for everything and for everything an excuse. If this were the case, why haven't they lowered the LPNs pay to reflect the lower reimbursement rates? They are screwing you over and you now know it.

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Excuse me. Not to degrade anybody, but there's a reason why one profession goes to school longer and studies more. Just like RNs cannot be paid Physicians' fees, why should it be any different from LPNs' and RNs'?

It is understandable if one has been on the job for longer than the other. But on starting the same scale with as much experience, then it truly is not right. Call a spade, a spade.

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