Overtime in CA prisons..with furlough days mandated?

shell911rn · Nov 16, 2009

Well, first off, "mandated furlough days" is true, but, you have to apply to take the furlough days through scheduling. In other words, you aren't taking 3 mandated furlough days a month (your salary has been adjusted to the 3 furlough days every month and the time is banked until you can use it). You can build up the furlough days and use them in place of sick time or vacation time, etc. Overtime is being used by nurses to make up for the 3 day a month loss in salary and then some. Depending on the facility you work at, how many nurses want the OT, and your rank in seniority, number of vacant positions, nurses on vacation, sick time, etc., will determine how much OT you will get. Hope this makes sense.

katkonk, BSN, RN · Nov 17, 2009

Well, first off, "mandated furlough days" is true, but, you have to apply to take the furlough days through scheduling. In other words, you aren't taking 3 mandated furlough days a month (your salary has been adjusted to the 3 furlough days every month and the time is banked until you can use it). You can build up the furlough days and use them in place of sick time or vacation time, etc. Overtime is being used by nurses to make up for the 3 day a month loss in salary and then some. Depending on the facility you work at, how many nurses want the OT, and your rank in seniority, number of vacant positions, nurses on vacation, sick time, etc., will determine how much OT you will get. Hope this makes sense.

Thank you! That clears up many mysteries about how things work there! I appreciate the information. Just one more piece of info., if you don't mind. When there are shifts to be covered, i.e. as you said for vacations, medical leave, etc. of another nurse.....I assume they offer first to state employees first before any agency RN's. (?) Or is there some reason that I would not be aware of yet that they would offer overtime to contract nurses first? Just wondering, because I talked to one recruiter for an agency that employs me now, that said one of his nurses was being asked to work doubles "all the time". It made me wonder. I will likely apply directly with the state (I think). Any info is very much appreciated.

shell911rn · Nov 17, 2009

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Thank you! That clears up many mysteries about how things work there! I appreciate the information. Just one more piece of info., if you don't mind. When there are shifts to be covered, i.e. as you said for vacations, medical leave, etc. of another nurse.....I assume they offer first to state employees first before any agency RN's. (?) Or is there some reason that I would not be aware of yet that they would offer overtime to contract nurses first? Just wondering, because I talked to one recruiter for an agency that employs me now, that said one of his nurses was being asked to work doubles "all the time". It made me wonder. I will likely apply directly with the state (I think). Any info is very much appreciated.

Yes, state employees should have first dibs on OT before contract nurses as per our union contract. A contract nurse may be able to do OT if no one else signs up for OT and it has been offered to state employees who do not want the OT. I can recall LVN's and CNA's who are working contract doing a lot of double shifts, but it is not very common at my facility for a contract RN to do OT. There are state RN's I work with who eat up a lot of the OT and I should also note that a state RN can be mandated to do OT, whereas a contract RN can not. Thus, it depends on many of the same factors I previously mentioned.

katkonk, BSN, RN · Nov 17, 2009

Many, many thanks for the information! I am sure there are others who will view this post and

make use of the info as well.

travduck, BSN, RN, CNM · Dec 1, 2009

"they force you to take days off, then pay overtime for others"

This is it in a nutshell. Furlough days come off your time before anything else such as vacation days. But if you schedule a furlough day off then someone else may be covering your shift and being paid overtime for the coverage. Makes no sense but then niether does a 13 month long emergency that is the cause of many state employees losing their homes and transportation as they bought those things at a time when they could pay for them but now find that 15% off their wages, but not every state employees wages, is insufficient to pay their obligated bills. This hits after some employees had their wages cut for other state fiscal reasons and they are trying to make do with up to 1/3 of their wages gone. I count myself fortunate to not be in that situation - yet,- and to have outside employment. I know that the state is preaching to the choir here in california about come to california so we must have money to burn. Too bad that it is coming at the expense of those who remain state employees dispite.

katkonk, BSN, RN · Dec 1, 2009

"they force you to take days off, then pay overtime for others"

This is it in a nutshell. Furlough days come off your time before anything else such as vacation days. But if you schedule a furlough day off then someone else may be covering your shift and being paid overtime for the coverage. Makes no sense...."

It makes no sense to me, either, since nurse staffing is there to fill an absolute need. Not like an office worker who can simply take a day off and "double up" the next day. The patients are still there, they still have to be treated, they still have their clinic appts scheduled. It isn't like the nurse's work simply doesn't exist for that day. hmmm... but, if "they" -the politicians can say that they have "forced state employees to take furlough days", then it sounds good to the public, and it will sound good in election campaigns when they quote the selective statistics that say "we saved xxxxx number of thousands of dollars by making them take furlough days". They just leave out the part about how much they had to pay to fill those shifts because the personnel were still needed. Thank you for your comments.

jaxnsanjose · Dec 5, 2009

It makes no sense to me, either, since nurse staffing is there to fill an absolute need. Not like an office worker who can simply take a day off and "double up" the next day. The patients are still there, they still have to be treated, they still have their clinic appts scheduled. It isn't like the nurse's work simply doesn't exist for that day. hmmm... but, if "they" -the politicians can say that they have "forced state employees to take furlough days", then it sounds good to the public, and it will sound good in election campaigns when they quote the selective statistics that say "we saved xxxxx number of thousands of dollars by making them take furlough days". They just leave out the part about how much they had to pay to fill those shifts because the personnel were still needed. Thank you for your comments.

I totally agree with this. I mean we are forced to take 3 days off but if we are willing to work 2 extra shifts we technically make more working 1 less day a month then if they weren't doing the furloughs. It is ridiculous that they are doing this and if it got out to the public how much extra they are spending because they are paying OT to cover the furlough shifts, I think they would be forced to reevaluate the idea of furlough days for correctional nurses.

Jax

Kora0880, BSN, RN · Jun 23, 2010

Moreover....if you take the furlough day any overtime you did in that week counts as straight time......!!!makes one sooo mad.......you can do 60hrs and still be paind straigh time...grrrrrrr:mad: