Not being paid anything for overtime hours worked during orientation. Is this legal?

Forest2 · Jul 16, 2019

You work, they pay. That is how it should be for hourly employees. One thought that has not been mentioned yet. Hopefully there is some kind of record somewhere that you are actually at work working (even when you aren't being paid) in case something catastrophic happens such as a lawsuit.

klone, MSN, RN · Jul 16, 2019

Nowhere in your OP did you mention the additional 4 hours of residency program. That’s why there was confusion as to how 3 12-hour shifts could add up to 40+ hours.

LovingLife123 · Jul 16, 2019

3 hours ago, klone said:
Nowhere in your OP did you mention the additional 4 hours of residency program. That’s why there was confusion as to how 3 12-hour shifts could add up to 40+ hours.

Thank you. And like I stayed at the end of my statement, it’s illegal for them not to pay you if you are indeed over 40. That’s why there is a time clock. You then have proof of your hours worked. If somebody is correcting your hours without your approval and removing time that you worked, that is against the law. If you work for a hospital system, then I would report it to your manager. That person should be fired.

RNNPICU, BSN, RN · Jul 17, 2019

Unless, thre 4 hours may not be paid as straight time, they might be included in an education pay or someother non-accruing pay, therefore the OP would not be in overtime as the only hours counted in towards regular pay is the 36. For example, the 36 hour pay comes from a different pot than the 4 hours.

It sounds like this is an orientation pay program. You still may not get paid "overtime" but I would ask about your time card, just for clarification purposes. Even the 3 hours still would not put you into overtime, but since this is a training wage, there might be a timekeeper who is not expecting you to stay over.

GbabyNurse · Jul 17, 2019

6 hours ago, klone said:
Nowhere in your OP did you mention the additional 4 hours of residency program. That’s why there was confusion as to how 3 12-hour shifts could add up to 40+ hours.

Oops, i thought I typed that. My bad!

GbabyNurse · Jul 17, 2019

:EDIT:
Thank you all for your replies! I talked with my manager today and as it turns out, I was unaware of how the time log/shift times work. The "override" I was seeing are the automatic shift times put in by the time-log software (0700-1900) put in for every employee. I was also under the impression that the 30 minute breaks were paid, however, they are unpaid. The unpaid break times make up most of what I thought was incidental overtime. I am paid as a regular employee and do get paid for any overtime I accumulate (this pay period had 25 min overtime). Thanks again for the replies, and I am happy that I am being paid fairly as an employee XD

GbabyNurse · Jul 17, 2019

10 hours ago, Jory said:
If you are clocking in and out what they did was illegal.
SOME rounding is allowed.
If you clock in at 6:53, they round it up to 7:00 and if you clock in at 6:52, they round it down to 6:45.
They can deduct the 30 minute lunch without you clocking in and out. If you didn't take one, you need to tell them.

You got it right. Thanks! They aren't doing anything illegal. I am just a clueless baby nurse hahaha

Jory, MSN, APRN, CNM · Jul 17, 2019

5 minutes ago, GbabyNurse said:
You got it right. Thanks! They aren't doing anything illegal. I am just a clueless baby nurse hahaha

I'll tell you a story to make you feel better. I am the daughter of an old-school nurse..I mean OLD SCHOOL.

When she retired, they were paying at one time, working nurses 36 hours a week, but paying them for 40 hours. This was to cut down to only two-12 hr shifts instead of three in a 24/hour period, would almost eliminate overtime, and nurses wouldn't complain about working extra if they were ultimately getting paid for time they didn't even work.

Fast forward, literally, 18 years later (I was older when I became a nurse)...guess who thought it worked the same way? Yup....me.

I called HR after I got my first paycheck, certain I had been shorted after working my first two weeks on the floor. My manager after a LONG discussion was very confused and then she finally asked, "Wait...did you think we paid you for the full 40 hours instead of the 36 you were here?"

My response? "Absolutely!"

That....was my first lesson in how much nurses were getting shafted. So I took my first job, moved, rented an apartment and budgeted for a job where I found out AFTER I started, I would be making around $7K on the year less than I thought.

I was so embarrassed.

klone, MSN, RN · Jul 17, 2019

1 hour ago, RNNPICU said:
Unless, thre 4 hours may not be paid as straight time, they might be included in an education pay or someother non-accruing pay, therefore the OP would not be in overtime as the only hours counted in towards regular pay is the 36. For example, the 36 hour pay comes from a different pot than the 4 hours.

Except that they actually CHANGED her clock-out times, removing 10-20 minutes from each shift. So not only is she not getting paid OT, but they're not paying her, PERIOD. Falsifying her time card and not paying her for time worked is illegal, period.

allnurses Guide · Jul 17, 2019

Did they change her clock-out times or just deduct the standard 30 minutes that almost all hospitals do for breaks?

BSNbound21, BSN, RN · Jul 17, 2019

23 hours ago, TriciaJ said:
It is not rude or greedy to make sure you are getting paid for all the hours that you work. It is this mentality that is responsible for women making less than men - the overarching need to be agreeable.

Yaas, girl. Yas.

Forest2 · Jul 17, 2019

16 hours ago, Jory said:
I'll tell you a story to make you feel better. I am the daughter of an old-school nurse..I mean OLD SCHOOL.
When she retired, they were paying at one time, working nurses 36 hours a week, but paying them for 40 hours. This was to cut down to only two-12 hr shifts instead of three in a 24/hour period, would almost eliminate overtime, and nurses wouldn't complain about working extra if they were ultimately getting paid for time they didn't even work.
Fast forward, literally, 18 years later (I was older when I became a nurse)...guess who thought it worked the same way? Yup....me.
I called HR after I got my first paycheck, certain I had been shorted after working my first two weeks on the floor. My manager after a LONG discussion was very confused and then she finally asked, "Wait...did you think we paid you for the full 40 hours instead of the 36 you were here?"
My response? "Absolutely!"
That....was my first lesson in how much nurses were getting shafted. So I took my first job, moved, rented an apartment and budgeted for a job where I found out AFTER I started, I would be making around $7K on the year less than I thought.
I was so embarrassed.

I remember them working what they then called a weekend option, it was always fri-sat-sun, 36 hrs but pay for 40. They used to do that all the time. Of course all the younger nurses thought that was fantastic, then they decided to only pay 36 hours and no more weekend options. Be wary when they come up with something new, it isn't to retain staff, it isn't to promote job satisfaction and it isn't for the benefit of the bedside nurse that's for sure.

AND I remember later they were requiring nurses that worked 3-12 hour shifts, to come in and work another 4 hours on another day, the reason they said was they would not pay benefits unless you were full time and they decided that FT was 40 hours. What a load of bologna.