Is your manager not paying when you work through your break?

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Our local hospital, who our hospice is associated with, just got into A LOT of trouble recently. Apparently, a new employee put in no lunch break slips and her manager didn't pay her for them. (Guess the new girl didn't get the memo that it is just expected in the nursing field that you don't get a lunch break:rolleyes:) Anyway, new employee turned the institution over to U.S. Dept of Labor:yeah: After a quick investigation the hospital has come around and decided it might be best to follow the law. They have even set up a mandatory training program on the computor to inform all employees that if they don't have 20 minutes of UNINTERRUPTED lunch break, they are to be paid.

Specializes in Rehab, Nurse Education, Management, ED.

I work in a unionized government hospital where it is "understood" that every nurse will take a 30 minute break, every shift. You will not put in a "no lunch" slip, it's considered your responsibility to take your lunch. 15 minute break are preferred, but not mandatory and are subsequently not reimburseable. Naturally, most of us don't get very many lunch breaks. I don't that I would want to be the nurse that turned the facility in to the labor dept. Also, we have no time cards nor any "proof" the you didn't get your break on any given day. You are schedule for an 8.5 or 12.5 hour shift with 30 min lunch factored in. That makes it difficult to prove anything.

:banghead:

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Not to feed your flame, but...our good nurses take their breaks and they take their lunches. There are always those disorganized, hyper souls who are ALWAYS disorganized and behind, who are always too busy to take their breaks or lunch and are consistently staying late, charting into the night when their shift is over. I get missed meal papers occasionally from secretaries, sometimes from nurses. It's the same people over and over. If you can't get your work done, all the time, why are you blaming the work? Besides, I'm here to cover when the nurses are on break, or the secretary. None of these people peep a word about not having a break until that paper comes for me to sign. The smartest nurse I knew would leave the floor on her breaks. That way, when she gets someone coming after her with the phone, or the MD wants the nurse, well, sorry--she's on break.

The work will always be out there, and it's always going to be nuts, and it's not going to wait till you have time. Take your break. If someone took us to the Labor Board because she's not getting her breaks, I'd be watching her work extremely closely from then on, and chances are she'd screw up enough to warrant termination. Who needs that kind of grief on the floor.

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Not to feed your flame, but...our good nurses take their breaks and they take their lunches. There are always those disorganized, hyper souls who are ALWAYS disorganized and behind, who are always too busy to take their breaks or lunch and are consistently staying late, charting into the night when their shift is over. I get missed meal papers occasionally from secretaries, sometimes from nurses. It's the same people over and over. If you can't get your work done, all the time, why are you blaming the work? Besides, I'm here to cover when the nurses are on break, or the secretary. None of these people peep a word about not having a break until that paper comes for me to sign. The smartest nurse I knew would leave the floor on her breaks. That way, when she gets someone coming after her with the phone, or the MD wants the nurse, well, sorry--she's on break.

The work will always be out there, and it's always going to be nuts, and it's not going to wait till you have time. Take your break. If someone took us to the Labor Board because she's not getting her breaks, I'd be watching her work extremely closely from then on, and chances are she'd screw up enough to warrant termination. Who needs that kind of grief on the floor.

Kudos to you that you are there to make sure your nurses get breaks. Not all hospitals have that nurse to back them up. Potty breaks are hard enough, not to mention the lunch break. When it is really busy it matters that the lone nurse on the unit doesn't get swamped with the "to do" list.

Even in our hospital, and as charge nurse, I find certan nurses that routinely delay report from the PACU for transport to floor and then simply go off to lunch leaving the LPN (who can't accept report for a patient coming back in our state). ArgHhh! Again I say consideration of your fellow nurse is one of the most important aspects of having a well run unit with team work an optimal goal.

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Specializes in L&D, medsurg,hospice,sub-acute.
Not to feed your flame, but...our good nurses take their breaks and they take their lunches. There are always those disorganized, hyper souls who are ALWAYS disorganized and behind, who are always too busy to take their breaks or lunch and are consistently staying late, charting into the night when their shift is over. I get missed meal papers occasionally from secretaries, sometimes from nurses. It's the same people over and over. If you can't get your work done, all the time, why are you blaming the work? Besides, I'm here to cover when the nurses are on break, or the secretary. None of these people peep a word about not having a break until that paper comes for me to sign. The smartest nurse I knew would leave the floor on her breaks. That way, when she gets someone coming after her with the phone, or the MD wants the nurse, well, sorry--she's on break.

The work will always be out there, and it's always going to be nuts, and it's not going to wait till you have time. Take your break. If someone took us to the Labor Board because she's not getting her breaks, I'd be watching her work extremely closely from then on, and chances are she'd screw up enough to warrant termination. Who needs that kind of grief on the floor.

You are speaking from a particular situation, that many of us are not in...and can still be 'smart' nurses and not get a break...we have no manager or person without a team on nights at my facility, and on days, our manager does not cover for staff while they break, and on eves, the supervisor isn't even a nurse... and then there's 'short' staffing--although for some reason we are forbidden to use that term...we often work on any given shift one-two nurses down---on my shift, we have 3 nurses for 55 sub-acute patients--some of which should never have left the hospital--iwth IV's TPN, GT feedings, dementia patients, post-ops with bleeding wounds, fevers, unstable diabetics, so when we are one nurse or one aide short, on nights,no one leaves the floor--it's too dangerous...and when eves is supposed to have 5 nurses and only have 4--it's too nuts to leave the floor--esp. when they get and admission that takes 2 hours to complete when you do it right--on top of their full patient assignment...--then there are the 911's and falls at the end of your shift that no one can do the paperwork for but you, and the med deliveries from the outside pharmacy that you have to sign for and sign in narcs for...that have us run over...we are not all so blessed as to have enough staff to keep our patient safe when we leave for 30 minutes, or so blessed as to have management that will touch a patient or take a team when the chips are down---that doesn't mean we are disorganized or 'not smart'--and have you ever heard of the 'whistle-blower law' ?--It sounds like you will stalk your people who make you look bad---not a good way to earn loyalty chief...

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Specializes in NeuroCritical Care, Neurosurgery.

I just had to vent about this issue. I work on a busy med-surg floor and have one year exp as a nurse. I am known for not taking my breaks until late in the day. But I don't feel right leaving my patients "unsettled" for another nurse to cover while she cares for her load too. Plus our charge nurse doesn't take a patient load. Am I asking too much for her to cover our breaks? :banghead:

Apparently the hospital will not pay for missed lunches which puts the burden on me. But some days I don't even get a chance to pee. What kind of work environment is that? :angryfire And I can't have any water or fluids out on the floor per my NM.

If anybody knows of any resources for different states I'd appreciate it. I don't want to get anybody in trouble; I just want to make nursing better. :nurse:

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Just reading these posts makes me feel so fortunate that I work where I do. That most of the nurses I work with won't put up with being told they can't put in for "no break" . I applaud those nurses that take the risk and report illegal labor practices. It has got to be hard to do but the only way for these bad practices to stop.

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