Night shift and daylight savings....

melsch · Nov 5, 2012

We used to do that, but now we get paid for the hours worked. It is much better and no one gets short changed as it never worked out fairly.

sapphire18 · Nov 5, 2012

Pretty sure that's illegal...they cannot just NOT pay you for an hour that you worked. Doesn't work that way.

RNsRWe, ASN, RN · Nov 5, 2012

If you worked 9 hours instead of eight, it doesn't matter WHAT time the clock said. Yah, I'm also pretty sure that's illegal.

Hospital I used to work paid for actual hours worked. Most of us did seem to fall on the same schedule so that we got "stuck" both seasons....I say "stuck" because I HATED juggling the MARS and time-spaced meds so that they got given "on time"...or as close to correct as we could manage.

Hated working the extra hour (regardless of the pay!) and hated having an hour LESS to get the same work done in the Spring!

KelRN215, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2012

Pretty sure that's illegal...they cannot just NOT pay you for an hour that you worked. Doesn't work that way.

This is the fight I had with my place of employment last year. They claimed it all balanced out because they didn't dock you for the hour in the spring. It didn't matter that, more often than not, the same nurses didn't work the fall and the spring. In the 5 years I was there, I think I worked the 13 hr night 4 times and the 11 hr night twice. Not to mention, the 11 hr night was the ONLY shift of the entire year that you could expect to only be at work for 12 hrs.

Every other hospital in the city pays 13 hrs in the fall and 12 in the spring. If you said this to them, their response was "well you don't work there, you work here" or "well, we're not going to change the way we do things." My old hospital also didn't pay nurses if they stayed for hours after their shift to chart, to rush a patient to the OR or CT or the ICU or wherever.

hiddencatRN, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2012

This is the fight I had with my place of employment last year. They claimed it all balanced out because they didn't dock you for the hour in the spring. It didn't matter that, more often than not, the same nurses didn't work the fall and the spring. In the 5 years I was there, I think I worked the 13 hr night 4 times and the 11 hr night twice. Not to mention, the 11 hr night was the ONLY shift of the entire year that you could expect to only be at work for 12 hrs.Every other hospital in the city pays 13 hrs in the fall and 12 in the spring. If you said this to them, their response was "well you don't work there, you work here" or "well, we're not going to change the way we do things." My old hospital also didn't pay nurses if they stayed for hours after their shift to chart, to rush a patient to the OR or CT or the ICU or wherever.

Did you ask them how they thought the state department of labor would feel about that?

amoLucia · Nov 5, 2012

Pretty sure that's illegal...they cannot just NOT pay you for an hour that you worked. Doesn't work that way.

How could they use that excuse if a liability or malpractice or investigative issue came up? You sure would be on the clock then so they could CYA themselves!

If you signed on the MAR or notes, then you were working and the expectation is that you be compensated for the work provided.

beeker · Nov 5, 2012

When I was a tech I worked at a place that DID NOT pay us for the extra hour. I contacted the state dept. of labor about it and got the runaround. A lot of hemming and hawing and "Gray area" and go ahead and file a complaint but nothing will be done about it. I filled out all the paperwork, got a phone call almost a year later. Several of my coworkers also filled out the paperwork and called. Never heard another word or got paid for that hour. I live in a state with VERY weak labor laws. I did not work there for long, but I hear most people call in sick that night now, to prove a point. Unfair to the patients and unfair to the staff.

sapphire18 · Nov 5, 2012

How could they use that excuse if a liability or malpractice or investigative issue came up? You sure would be on the clock then so they could CYA themselves!
If you signed on the MAR or notes, then you were working and the expectation is that you be compensated for the work provided.

I think we're saying the same thing.

morte, LPN, LVN · Nov 5, 2012

That wouldn't apply, because you ARE on the clock. It is just the clock changes....If you work every other W/E you will fall on both, which is the employers rationale.

I think we're saying the same thing.

ThePrincessBride, MSN, RN, NP · Nov 5, 2012

I worked that shift (13.5 hours) and I was told that we probably won't be paid for the extra hour.

I better get paid. I don't work for free.

psu_213, BSN, RN · Nov 5, 2012

Where I work now, if you work on the fall back night, you get that 'extra' hour of pay.

Where I worked at a CNA...we worked all 8 hour shifts. If you worked on fall back night, you were paid for 9 hours. If you worked on spring ahead night you got paid for 7. However...they had a 'rule' that if you were full-time you had to have (absolute!!) 40 hours per week. So, when the clocks were set ahead in the fall, you only had 39 hours for the week. They took an hour of vacation time to get you to 40 hours. No debate, you HAD to take the hour of vacation time. Did not make much sense to me, but whatever. This was a big discussion at work one of the change nights.

One of the RNs there was just PRN and worked full time as an ADON at another facility. He said that at this other facility, they 'made sure' the same staff worked on both fall back night and spring forward night, and they were paid 8 hours both nights (i.e. they got a free hour in the spring and, in the fall, the worked an hour for which they were not paid). My opinion, if you work and extra hour, you get paid for that hour...does not seem difficult.