My coworker is stealing

Nurses Relations

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My coworker is essentially stealing. She stays nearly an hour late everyday for overtime. This would not be unusual but we work in a setting where staying late is blatantly unnecessary. She has no reason to stay late every day and purposely puts off her work til the last minute. It really bothers me. She spends the entire shift wasting time so she can have something to do right before she is supposed to leave. I’m not about to compromise my job by saying anything but drives me crazy.

If you are concerned about eventual budget/staff cuts, think about it this way... Who do you think will be the first one to be considered? The ones that work efficiently or the ones that don't and always need OT to accomplish their duties?

Relax... She'll hang herself...

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As stated in my initial comment, I have no intention of bringing this up to anyone. It would obviously compromise my working environment. The purpose of this post was to vent. I realize my best course of action is to say and do nothing. ALso, it very well could come out of my check. See comment #4 "what happens when the facility needs to cut back on staff, cut back on services, cut back on benefits, due to costs over runs for salaries!"

You are quite right here. Very possible that if there are cutbacks, the person who is stealing overtime pay will be the one who stays, while an honest employee is let go. Have seen this happen.

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There's usually some strict rules on overtime. There's more than one nurse who is spoken to about it. And the nurse in question may be clocking out and doing the work on their own time--which is a huge no-no, but you can not be 100% sure about this.

It is a managerial issue that probably won't come to a head until budget time or the manager has to answer to why this was allowed to continue.

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Specializes in Geriatrics, Dialysis.

I hear you OP. Frustrating as all get out, especially when I was following the nurse famous for this. She stays late every day at least an hour, sometimes several hours and is in my way. It also seems that pretty often after she finally does leave I would find work she still didn't complete. Before I left that wing I got to the point that if the work she left wasn't a critical order I just left it for her to do the next day, unless she wasn't there the next day [surprise...those are the days she usually leaves a lot left undone!

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Specializes in Nurse Leader specializing in Labor & Delivery.

How do you know she's staying an hour after every day? Unless you are also doing that?

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Specializes in hospice.
How do you know she's staying an hour after every day? Unless you are also doing that?

Perhaps this nurse is on the shift that follows the other nurse?

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Specializes in CEN, CFRN, PHRN, RCIS, EMT-P.
Perhaps this nurse is on the shift that follows the other nurse?

How would she know this?: "purposely puts off her work til the last minute."

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Specializes in Emergency, Telemetry, Transplant.

When I worked at CNA, there was an RN at the LTC facility that always had OT. Not just a half hour here or there…she would regularly register 10 or 11 hours when scheduled for 8 (we did not have a time clock--there was a staffing sheet on each each unit so she had to record on the sheet how long she was there).

I'm not sure what she did during the day (I worked evening shift), but in the time after he work ended, she would sit there, do a bit of charting, talk to the oncoming nurse, go around a sing to the residents, stick her nose in other's business (not necessarily offensively so, but it was not something she had to be on the clock to do), etc.

She had been a nurse there forever and nothing appeared to be done about it. Very annoying, but not something other's wanted to call her out for doing.

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You must report any fraud, waste or abuse.

Do you have access to a Compliance hotline?

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These posts have me even more worried! Now I'm scared my supervisors will think I'm not offering to help this coworker. I'm worried management could think I must be leaving all the work for her. I absolutely offer to help and have even starting asking an hour before she is scheduled to if I can help. She gets very possessive over her real projects but it mostly staying late to do her own documentation. She also stays late for imaginary tasks that I could not help with.

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Our schedules overlap. It's not a traditional nursing setting. She works mornings, I work evenings and we are both there for a few hours in the afternoon.

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Specializes in CEN, CFRN, PHRN, RCIS, EMT-P.
These posts have me even more worried! Now I'm scared my supervisors will think I'm not offering to help this coworker. I'm worried management could think I must be leaving all the work for her. I absolutely offer to help and have even starting asking an hour before she is scheduled to if I can help. She gets very possessive over her real projects but it mostly staying late to do her own documentation. She also stays late for imaginary tasks that I could not help with.

Are you sure you're not rationalizing your need to butt in her business? Let it go, if she's doing something wrong then she will have to answer at some point. For your own sanity, focus on your work.

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