Nurses outraged by plan to strip health professionals of overtime pay

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jnette, ASN, EMT-I

4,388 Posts

Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.
Originally posted by -jt

This information has been out there for months - put out in action alerts by the state nurses assocs. Who saw those? The state nurses assoc members & whoever they passed them on to. But lots of other staff nurses that this new law would affect dont know about it - because they dont get involved

If we're sitting saying where did this come from - I never heard about it - we have only ourselves to blame.

Some nurses still think we shouldnt be in politics & dont get involved in their professional associations. We NEED to be more involved in both or crap like this, created by non-nurses, will continue to rule over us to our own detriment.

ITA, jt. I saw the thread you posted way back when and sent it on to colleagues. My coworkers were dumbfounded when I told them of it this week. They don't seem to watch much of ANY news (and especially no politics of any sort), so when I mention "getting involved" they look at me as if I were speaking

a foreign language. :o How sad is that?

How can we gripe if we don't ACT to change or influence these decisions? We HAVE the rights and the freedoms here, yet we somehow expect these issues to resolve themselves in our favor without lifting a finger or our voices?

RN2007

117 Posts

Personally, I think it is horrible that people are not paid overtime for extra hours they put in at work. However, keep in mind that this policy already exists for some PROFESSIONS such as architecture, because about 7 years ago when my husband had his own architectural practice in GA, our accountant informed us that licensed and unlicensed architects that had completed their degree in Architecture and who were working in their chosen field that they were "schooled for", were EXEMPT from getting overtime wages and must be paid salary for full time work. There were no exceptions here. At the time I was told that some other professions were the same way, but I do not know which ones are, and of course the laws may vary in different states. However, since my husband has worked in FL where we have lived for many years now, his employers have always paid him salary for full time work with no overtime paid because he is an exempt employee, but it is expected that he put in an extra 5 - 15 hours of overtime because "he is a professional".

So, in light of that, I would say that nursing may be going in the same direction, especially since these hospitals are big business and are looking everywhere to cut every penny they can to stay open and/or to make the big $$$$. No, I do not think it is fair and hope it does not happen to nursing or any other field, but I doubt if the nursing shortage will get so much worse, because after all, I see on these bulletin boards all the time that most nurses do not go into the field for the money but rather for what nursing is all about. Personally, since reading these bulletin boards over the past several months and also because of my bad back, I have decided not to go into nursing and have chosen a different field in healthcare - either the Radiology Technology or Physical Therapy Assistant Program. I have also checked out their bulletin boards and talked with people in their fields and "shadowed them at work", and think those fields are more for me than putting up with what I see goes on in nursing field. So, all in all, my spending time here on these nursing boards has helped me tremendously, in that I did not go into the wrong field, ya know?

Best wishes to all in nursing here... Sincerely, April ;)

Specializes in MICU, neuro, orthotrauma.

you can go here

http://www.regulations.gov/AGCY_WAGEANDHOURDIVISION.cfm

and fill out the form and if you dont want to write a personal note you can ciopy and paste this

New Department of Labor overtime proposal offers working families false promises, longer hours and no recourse!

The Department of Labor's proposed changes to the Fair Labor Standards Act cuts off critical overtime pay for hundreds of thousands of working families. Without overtime pay, these workers will have no protection against excessive work hours.

At the same time, many workers depend on overtime protections to pay for healthcare, childcare, rent and transportation costs. Overtime pay makes up about one-fourth of the average weekly earnings of workers who receive it. This legislation would especially hurt women and single heads of household who often count on overtime pay to make ends meet and need control over their time due to daycare and family responsibilities.

Overtime pay is one of those job protections that working families won after decades of struggle to make jobs safe and protect workers from abuse. Please don't take this step backward by cutting overtime pay.

it will be sent to this woman

Tammy McCutcheon

Administrator, Wage and Hour Division

Employment Standards Administration

U.S. Department of Labor, Room S-3502

200 Constitution Avenue, NW

Washington, D.C. 20210

just trying to make it a little easier for anyones voice to be heard. dont just complain to all of us who all agree with you but cant do anything. be counted.

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renerian, BSN, RN

5,693 Posts

Specializes in MS Home Health.

I just finshed my letters of inquiry to the Vice and Mr. President. The DOL website is so packed it is hard to find information.

renerian

jnette, ASN, EMT-I

4,388 Posts

Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.

Thanx geekgolightly !

Great link ! Just submitted the prewritten, plus added a comment of my own.

ZORYA

39 Posts

Well maybe there is a positive side to this you guys...If you'll notice, all the professional, administrative, etc workers make really good money...(Doctors, Network Administrators, etc.) I see somewhere down the line a major overhaul of salary for the workers that will not get overtime....It just stands to reason....ESPECIALLY if these workers belong to some sort of union..I can assure you that some additional re-vamping of policy, pay etc is going to happen....I'm hoping this is the light at the end of the tunnel so to speak....

ZORYA

39 Posts

Shouldn't we also be trying to introduce compromises or some sort of gambling piece? I don't see this being stopped so maybe there is a plan we can "barter" with?

Such as:

This law can go into effect as long as the salary meets the minimum amount of $.....

Forget the outrage, since it isn't effective...Instead, what can we do to soften the blow of this impending change and turn it to our advantage? Some of the big league players need to get into debate and discussions over this to demand terms and so on...

ZORYA

39 Posts

Shouldn't we also be trying to introduce compromises or some sort of gambling piece? I don't see this being stopped so maybe there is a plan we can "barter" with?

Such as:

This law can go into effect as long as the salary meets the minimum amount of $..... or

We can accept this as long as we are not forced to work over x amount of hrs....................

Forget the outrage, since it isn't effective...Instead, what can we do to soften the blow of this impending change and turn it to our advantage? Some of the big league players need to get into debate and discussions over this to demand terms and so on...

LauraLou

532 Posts

I sent the following comments to the website geekgolightly posted above. They are only taking comments through tomorrow, 6/30, so please submit something soon if you wish to comment.

Concerning the proposed rule to eliminate overtime pay for nurses:

Nurses work long hours and under very stressful conditions. To say that they will no longer be paid for overtime and, in fact, could be mandated to work extra hours with no compensation is unconscionable. There is a serious nursing shortage in this country. If this new rule eliminating overtime pay for nurses is put into practice, it will further escalate the problem.

The shortage of nurses is increasing every year and its impact on medical care is reaching a crisis point. By taking away overtime pay for nurses, there will be one less incentive for people to enter nursing and more incentive for current nurses to leave the field.

President Bush himself has acknowledged there is a nursing shortage and has committed funds to enable more people to enter the field of nursing. Surely this proposed rule eliminating overtime pay for nurses is in direct conflict with the President's stated commitment to improve the nursing shortage.

Nurses have a direct and proven impact on the quality of healthcare that patients receive. Please demonstrate the government's support of nurses by continuing to require overtime pay for nurses.

Thank you for your time and consideration.

Weezer

1 Post

Wow! I can see why we nurses must band and stand together! I have never been a promoter of unionization for nurses, but look folks,,,the fire, police and EMS people all have union representation and, according to the article are "protected"..... maybe it is time for nurses to be recognized and treated as professional and time to stand together to be sure it is heard! Thanks for the sounding board platform :devil:

oramar

5,758 Posts

I wrote this to my representative, "I know the rich will always steal from the poor and the strong will always prey on the weak, my complaint is that you politicians drive the getaway car and hold my front door open for them".

jnette, ASN, EMT-I

4,388 Posts

Specializes in Hemodialysis, Home Health.
Originally posted by oramar

I wrote this to my representative, "I know the rich will always steal from the poor and the strong will always prey on the weak, my complaint is that you politicians drive the getaway car and hold my front door open for them".

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