Nurses, Will you work OT for straight pay?

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  1. Will you work OT for straight pay?

    • 16
      Yes
    • 286
      No

302 members have participated

If you currently work OT for time and one half pay will you continue to work the hours for straight pay? What do you think of the new OT legislation and how it will effect nursing? What do you think of the exemptions for male dominated professions? ie, Police officers, firefighters and EMTs.

Specializes in ICU, ED,.

I'm glad to see fellow nurses are concerned about the OT issue. I sincerely believe this will be a most significant piece of legislation concerning nursing and that it can

eventually have a profound effect on us all. The same short sighted and chauvenistic administrators who have always believed a good nurse's place is under their thumbs and have contributed to the nursing shortage will, if allowed, see this as a panacea to the problem they have created and perpetuated. Talk this issue up. Now is the time, more than ever, when nurses across the land must unite. Voice your oposition to your elected state and federal officials. Let them know that nurses vote. This legislation can only be used to hurt us. It isn't going to create more nurses. It isn't going to improve patient care. It isn't going to alleviate the nursing shortage. It's only going to take money out of our pockets and drive more of us from the field. I hope we won't allow this to happen. We can not afford to be passive on this most important issue.

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Specializes in ICU, ED,.
One more thing, the individual hospitals are not able to control if they pay overtime or not. It's federal regulations so every hospital cannot pay overtime.
I have to take exception with your thought that hospitals won't have a choice. Yes they will. The OT laws before amended said that in most cases they had to pay the OT. Now it simply takes that obligation away to pay time and one half. It doesn't forbid them from paying it. Imagine the potential in states where extra hours can be mandated but OT doesn't have to be paid. "Your mandated to work. If you leave we will go after your license for patient abandonment. By the way don't expect OT pay. We don't have to pay it anymore." That is what you may have to look forward to.
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Specializes in ICU, ED,.
What I think is going to happen is that if a facility typically has a nurse work a lot of over time the overall base salary will be higher.

I know the we will see an increase in salary because of this new legislation.

Of course hospitals may offer an incentive to work more than 40 hours but it sure won't be the time and one half it is now. An extra couple of bucks an hour will never add up to the potential for what we have to loose. This new legislation will only be used to take money away from us. This is a backward move and should be seen as such by all of us. No employeer has yours or my best interest at heart. Nurses have a history of being used and abused and this has the potential to be the biggest abuse ever heaped upon us.
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One more thing, the individual hospitals are not able to control if they pay overtime or not. It's federal regulations so every hospital cannot pay overtime.
What on earth are you talking about?????

This "federal regulation" is precluded by both individual state law AND union contracts. And other thing, individual hospitals can offer any d*** thing they want as a "benefit" to their employees. If they want to provide OT, they can. If they want to pay OT at triple the base rate (:rotfl: ), they can do that too.

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I have to take exception with your thought that hospitals won't have a choice. Yes they will. The OT laws before amended said that in most cases they had to pay the OT. Now it simply takes that obligation away to pay time and one half. It doesn't forbid them from paying it. Imagine the potential in states where extra hours can be mandated but OT doesn't have to be paid. "Your mandated to work. If you leave we will go after your license for patient abandonment. By the way don't expect OT pay. We don't have to pay it anymore." That is what you may have to look forward to.
Never gonna happen, my friends. Hospitals are not sweatshops and nurses are not fools. How many nurses do you think would stand for the above ultimatum, rather than going to work at the local Costco? Those that would need a workshop in self-respect. If this mandate were handed down, nurses are neither owned by or bound to the hospitals for which they work - they would have the option to quit. If enough nurses quit, what is the hospital going to do?

Options:

1 - rescind their idiotic ultimatum and beg their nurses to come back (those nurses might just laugh in their faces)

2 - hire agency nurses (expensive)

3 - hire travel nurses (expensive)

4 - hire all new staff, if they can find people who will work under those conditions (expensive)

5 - transport patients they can't provide care for to surrounding hospitals

(:eek: Lose Money!!!!!)

If an entire state adopted a policy of such foolishness - they would be on Dateline NBC and the instant black sheep of healthcare. They wouldn't be able to attract nurses from anywhere. I guess this is where foreign nurses would be the "answer to the shortage". Yeah, ok. When nursing completes its transition to non-unionized factory work, these will be the ONLY people willing to do it. Then, what about the lawsuits caused by mistakes due to language barriers. (I realize they speak English, but what about people who cannot understand their accents - patients and nurses really need to be able to understand one another, don't you think?)

Edited to add afterthought: Anyone think these other countries might get sick of the US stealing all of their nurses? Wars have been started over less.

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Specializes in Research,Peds,Neuro,Psych,.

I have a question: How many nurses posting on this thread have been told that they will lose overtime? Just curious.

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nurses working in civilian hospitals are not civil servants...they do not get paid 24/7

i work 16 hour shifts so if i come in when i am not scheduled i have to work straight time until i reach 40 hours...we do not have mandatory overtime..never heard of it till i joined this site...but they will pay you a bonus for coming in no matter how few hours you have worked that week...NO WAY workig over 40 for straight pay

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What a question....kind of like asking someone if they would poke a flaming hot stick into their eye!!

I don't think anything will hapen to OT as we know it.

If you lose OT, then please come back and let us know.

I believe this is a lot of handwringing over something that is not going to happen to nurses.

bob

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Would I work ot at straight time...no.

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We got a memo from HR today, stating that we are in compliance with the Federal OT law and noone will see a change in their OT criteria. Good thing, we have major staffing issues at times and it's we OT whores that "solve" the dilemma. Straight time? Heck no.

If you currently work OT for time and one half pay will you continue to work the hours for straight pay? What do you think of the new OT legislation and how it will effect nursing? What do you think of the exemptions for male dominated professions? ie, Police officers, firefighters and EMTs.
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Specializes in Med-Surg.
nope. But fortunately, due to our union contracts, this won't be necessary for anyone where I work.

Just wait 'til those contracts come up for re-negotiation.. :stone

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

I believe this is a lot of handwringing over something that is not going to happen to nurses.

bob

Well, that's not an uncommon thing... Change or the threat of such has a way of causing a lot of talk around the water cooler... The point here is that the Bush administration has worked to push through this little bit of legislation that has the potential to save some people a lot of money... and it's sure not the average American that this administration is working so hard to take care of financially. So... the average American (ie, us) then begins to discuss what exactly this nice little "change" could mean... (and perhaps if the wording weren't so ambiguous we wouldn't have to "wring our hands" over it so much..:p ) Specifically, RNs can be classified as professional employees and exempted from overtime. Will it happen? Could swing either way... arguments have been presented for and against the possibility just in this one forum. And, you're right, just the experience of being employed tells you that more than half the time the "handwringing" is for naught. Let's hope that is the case here as well. Between now and the time that we discover our fate, let's remember that there is value in tossing around the facts, the myths, the opinions, and the options...

By the way, love the quote in your sig line! Totally cracked me up :chuckle

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