Mandatory Overtime

**canoehead, BSN, RN** · Jun 8

If you make a mistake the lawyers will check your background and your other jobs. They will find out how many consecutive hours you worked and it will not show appropriate concern for your patients welfare.

Staffing and sick calls are not your responsibility. Sick calls are a predictable part of doing business, so much so that administration should have a better way to deal with them than mandating a double shift. did they offer more money or time off to anyone before talking to you? Maybe they should make it a policy to give double time to critical needs. That said, they will call it insubordination, and abandonment, and whatever else they can think of so no one else thinks they can get away with saying "no."

They might report you to the Board, which is a stress in itself, but no one there is going to fault you for refusing to work 24h straight because they are mandated to protect the public.

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Jun 10

I don't know that the clock resets when working in multiple facilities. It was years ago but I worked with an RN that worked 5 shifts straight because of the facilities "mandatory OT" policy.

She was still working occasional shifts at another facility owned by the county just because she had to maintain employment there for awhile yet to keep her pension. She was mandated to a double at our facility from an AM to PM shift, went directly to the other job for her NOC shift, came back to our facility for her next scheduled AM shift and was mandated again for a double. The DON at the time was aware of the consecutive shifts and didn't care, told her she had to stay for the mandate or it was a voluntary termination. Why she didn't call in for the second day after already working 3 shifts I'll never know.

Editorial Team / Admin · Jun 10

kbrn2002 said:

I don't know that the clock resets when working in multiple facilities

Exactly this. It isn't the employer's responsibility to know your hours at another job. How that works out legally I can't say for sure because the laws vary by state, but many include the language of "the employer" which I would interpret as one entity, not all that one person is working for. Not a lawyer of course.

NurseLili625 · Jun 11

Thank you all for your input! I appreciate it♥️🫶🏻

DNPStudy, MSN · Jun 14

What state are you in? Laws may be different.

For Q2, If you are in Texas, there is such a thing as invoking Safe Harbor:

"Safe harbor is a legal process that protects nurses from employer retaliation if they request a nursing peer review of an assignment or conduct they believe could violate the Nursing Practice Act (NPA) or Board rules. Nurses can invoke safe harbor in situations where it's not in the best interest of patients for them to accept an assignment, such as working mandatory overtime or accepting expanded patient assignments."

chare · Jun 14

DNPStudy said:

What state are you in? Laws may be different.

For Q2, If you are in Texas, there is such a thing as invoking Safe Harbor:

[...]

I'm not sure this is applicable. The facility isn't creating the unsafe event. Rather the OP is by scheduling themself on back-to-back shifts at separate facilities.

DNPStudy, MSN · Jun 15

chare said:

I'm not sure this is applicable. The facility isn't creating the unsafe event. Rather the OP is by scheduling themself on back-to-back shifts at separate facilities.

Understood but I'm also answering concerns in #2 where the OP asked "This would put the nurse on 3 consecutive shifts in a row. If you refuse the mandate, can you be reported for abandonment? Certainly I would never leave my patients unattended, however, at what point is the nurse allowed to say that they feel unsafe providing care/administering medications without reprimand? "

If she feels that mandatory OT is unsafe putting the nurse working 3 shifts in a row at that same facility and refusing the mandate or assignment for fear of abandonment but feels it unsafe, can be challenged under the Safe harbor which is only a law in Texas that I know of.

toomuchbaloney · Jun 15

chare said:

I'm not sure this is applicable. The facility isn't creating the unsafe event. Rather the OP is by scheduling themself on back-to-back shifts at separate facilities.

Isn't the facility creating the unsafe situation by not having a functional plan to staff their facility when staff have the freedom to utilize sick time with little notice? Isn't it the facility's responsibility to have a staffing plan that doesn't rely upon mandatory overtime for a simple call off?

kbrn2002, ADN, RN · Jun 16

toomuchbaloney said:

Isn't the facility creating the unsafe situation by not having a functional plan to staff their facility when staff have the freedom to utilize sick time with little notice? Isn't it the facility's responsibility to have a staffing plan that doesn't rely upon mandatory overtime for a simple call off?

If OP works in LTC it's sadly pretty much the norm to mandate. Not that it's right, it just is what it is. Nurses who don't work in that setting don't realize the staffing issue when there's a call-off. LTC's are typically staffed at the bare minimum needed to function on a normal shift and unlike a hospital, there's no other floor to pull staff from, and a float pool is usually non-existent. Unless the Supervisor gets lucky and somebody agrees to come in on a day off or come in early for a double if they are scheduled the following shift...if the supervisor even bothers trying to make those calls odds are pretty slim that shift is getting covered without a mandate. Those mandates are a pretty big part of the reason I left LTC

abbnurse · Jun 17

kbrn2002 said:

If OP works in LTC it's sadly pretty much the norm to mandate. Not that it's right, it just is what it is. Nurses who don't work in that setting don't realize the staffing issue when there's a call-off. LTC's are typically staffed at the bare minimum needed to function on a normal shift and unlike a hospital, there's no other floor to pull staff from, and a float pool is usually non-existent. Unless the Supervisor gets lucky and somebody agrees to come in on a day off or come in early for a double if they are scheduled the following shift...if the supervisor even bothers trying to make those calls odds are pretty slim that shift is getting covered without a mandate. Those mandates are a pretty big part of the reason I left LTC

💯💯💯 I could have written this post, word for word. You are spot on !!