Nurses Testify Against Overtime Law Changes

-jt · Jan 19, 2004

I have to question the real motives behind this law change. Bush and friends insist that the law must be changed so that more people who are not now eligible for ot can be paid for overtime work. Ok thats great and very humanitarian. BUT why do we have to take overtime pay away from millions who already are eligible for it if this is the only reason for the change? If the goal is merely to help those people who dont get overtime pay now, then why fight so hard to prevent a bill that would have kept everybody who already gets it & just EXPAND the rules to INCLUDE those others who dont. THAT would have been helpful and all that was needed to achieve the stated goal. Bush and friends' resistance to that is illogical in the face of their argument on why the change is needed.

The real reason is probably to help the employer save a few bucks

on overtime pay while still sucking the overtime work out of the employee. And the Dept of Labor gets to make the changes. But when did any of them get elected to be our lawmakers?

This is really a big deal and very controversial. Decades ago, union workers fought & died to obtain the rights we now have for a 40 hr workweek and overtime pay. Despite the protest from a large percentage of the people in this country, those rights are all going to be gone with the swipe of a pen - whether Congress approves it or not. One man should not have so much power.

I thought the Revolution was supposed to have gotten rid of the King centuries ago.

mattsmom81 · Jan 22, 2004

I too am very much against this and have written to everyone pertinent expressing my opinion. Looks like nurses' opinions don't count (no surprise there). This will be bad for nurses. Employers will feel they have the right to exploit us even more.

Will unions have the power to negotiate this matter in collective bargaining agreements? Or will this be an unalienable right for employers, I wonder?

Geeg · Jan 22, 2004

I think it is terrible that big business is being given permission to cheat workers out of overtime pay. Howerver, nurses will not have to worry about it if they use their power in numbers to negotiate a their pay, whether it be with the help of unions or not. Sure , this law won't help us, let's use some of the determination we have in providing safe care against all odds, and try to help ourselves for once.

pattyjo, MSN, RN · Jan 22, 2004

jt and others: This spending bill, including the overtime provision changes put forth by the Bush administration (please remember this moment next November!) passed today. I hope this link to the story on MSNBC.com works, please read the whole story, it sure reveals alot about some of our elected officials.

Patty

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4027929/

Godswill · Jan 23, 2004

I cannot believe this bill pass this really makes me think twice about my journey of becoming a LPN than RN. Not begin able to make OT money but begin force to work OT is not a good way to get new students to go into nursing:devil:

mattsmom81 · Jan 23, 2004

My employer has promised (CEO) he will still pay OT regardless of the bill. We shall see.

Plus it has never been our hospital's policy to mandate OT, thank goodness. I hope it never does. We shall see about that too.

RoxyBen · Jan 23, 2004

The bill proves that nurses and employers must work to end mandatory overtime. It is such a "sweat shop" concept to begin with that I'm surprised that we allowed it to go on for so long. Mandating that nurses give up their personal time, even with OT compensation, is anything but fair and democratic.

That said, the bill is an obvious attempt to spend more on lower income OT than higher income OT. OT pay should be given to any hourly paid employee. That is what is fair.

So much for the federal government doing something about the nursing shortage. Sheesh!

-jt · Jan 24, 2004

I think the confusion among nurses about whether or not refusing to work forced overtime is "pt abandonment" and the fear of discipline on their licenses had nurses between a rock & hard place. Now that so many state boards are clarifying and stating that refusal of mandatory is not pt abandonment, it shouldnt be so hard for nurses to stop accepting the mandate. Except that there still is the threat of discipline by the employer for insubordinationon on the job and a lot of nurses do fear that, so they still allow themselves to be mandated. In this day & age with the ball in their court, I would think that nurses wouldnt be so scared and more would be telling their employers to take their threats and shove it.... theres another job around the corner. See how many of us they actually fire for refusing to work OT. You probably will find the following hard to believe. I sure did:

An RN called me to file a grievance for her being mandated to work overtime (its only supposed to be allowed in declared emergencies but the supervisor apparently violated that). Sooooo.... Im gathering the info from the RN & she tells me that she worked her usual 7am to 7pm and was mandated to GO TO SLEEP IN THE HOSPITAL FOR 4 HRS AND RETURN TO HER UNIT LATER for the 11pm-7am shift! AND SHE DID IT!!! Now who's the fool here?

You can only be mandated if you have no relief. But if you are leaving the unit for 4 hrs to sleep, you have to turn your pts over to SOME OTHER RN, therefore you DID have relief. So whats to be mandated???? There was nothing for the supervisor to hold her on. The lack of relief wasnt on her shift or after her shift. It was 2 shifts later! Nothing to do with her and not her problem. But she let it be made her problem.

She could have just said no thanks and GONE HOME after giving report to the nurse who relieved her. Instead, after giving report, she went to sleep in the lounge as she was told to do and went BACK to work for the night shift. Angry and exhausted and then wants me to argue a grievance for her. How??? For what?? With what do I argue??? She ALLOWED this to be done to her. The supervisor can say whatever she wants but she couldnt really mandate the nurse since there WAS enough staff to relieve her at the end of her shift. But she threw it out there anyway knowing the RN wouldnt stand up for herself.

Don't you know that in the grievance hearing nursing administration said "The nurse wasnt mandated. Surely she knew that she COULDNT have been mandated. She had relief and gave report on her pts when her shift was finished. She VOLUNTARILY came back to work the night shift to help out. She didnt have to. She could have said no"

!!!!!!!

Icing on the cake: the nurse later says "if we had more MEN in this profession, this wouldnt be happening". How do you slap some sense into nurses like this? We dont need to wait for a man to rescue us. We just need to grow some cajones for ourselves. Starting with that one. Accepting being mandated to sleep in the hospital. geeeeeezzzzz.

pickledpepperRN · Jan 24, 2004

I have told managers that after my 12 hour night I am too fatigued to be a safe effective nurse. Never been disciplined for this.

On the law itself i heard a wimp of a congressperson explain, "If we don't vote for the budget we will be accused of shutting down the government."

mattsmom81 · Jan 25, 2004

Originally posted by spacenurse
I have told managers that after my 12 hour night I am too fatigued to be a safe effective nurse. Never been disciplined for this.

This is how I handle it too.

The situation JT refers to is a better case for coercion than mandating. I hear nurses badmouthing other nurses for 'never coming in extra or staying over' and so the coercion is propogated.

When will we stick together and stand up for ourselves? So frustrating.... sorry I'm having a lousy week.

skicheryl · Feb 3, 2004

I would hope that this new OT law would empower every nurse in this country to vote these fools out of office! I know when I go in that voting booth in Nov, I'll remember this. I believe that if nurses would stick together on this one, we would see some legislation passed to rectify this. I say, let the legislators experience the nursing shortage first hand, then lets see how they vote on issues such as this.

I know if I'm mandated to work overtime without any OT pay, I won't stay in nursing.