Overtime-Do you get it for over 8 or over 80?

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The hospital I work at pays overtime for working over 8 hrs in a day -- except to staff that works 12 hour shifts--they get overtime for over 40 hrs in a week. Well, can you believe this? If you work the night shift and have to stay over your shift, you do not get overtime because the hospital claims that 7am starts a "new" day -- so therefore, you did not work more than 8 hrs in a day. Isn't that absurd? It has not always been like this. They changed the policy a couple of years ago. And believe it or not, we are unionized. I went to human resources and spoke with the vice president and asked him how they justified such unfair treatment. He said "well, you make more money for working night shift". He was speaking about the shift differential, which currently is $3.75/hr.

I just want to find out if other hospitals nationwide are doing this. I guess it will make me feel a little better if it is a common occurrence in hospitals. If not, I really think the night shift workers should all resign until the policy is changed!

Specializes in Intensive Care and Cardiology.
Believe it or not, I don't get overtime if I have stay late and chart! If I stay late due to patient care, THEN I get overtime. Unbelievable. I get comp time for charting. To me, this sends the totally wrong message to nurses that charting is more important than pt care! My union will here about this as soon as I have time to tell them :angryfire

I would chart as I go, that way by the end of your shift your still doing patient care, that way you can get paid for it.

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Specializes in Med/Surge, Psych, LTC, Home Health.

Anything over 40 hours a week, we all get overtime, regardless of if we work 8 or 12 hour shifts. I've never even heard of getting paid overtime for having to stay over in your shift, believe it or not. If that were the case in my facility, there would be some nurses making a LOT of extra money. :uhoh3:

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Specializes in Theatre.

Where I work in the land of OZ overtime is paid for time worked beyond the rostered shift hours for the day.

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It was my understanding that the federal minimum was time and a half must be paid for anything over 40 hours a week or the employer could choose to go by the 8 & 80 system (meaning OT must be paid for naything over 8 hours in a day or more than 80 hours in 2 weeks). The idea is for the management to pick ONE system to go by...sounds like they are combining the 2 systems to get the "best of both worlds" from a management perspective, but that sounds illegal to me.

As to the "day" starting at 7 am....I'm not sure it matters much either way. If they "day" were to officially start at midnight, then you would only have worked 7 hours that day anyways...make sense? Seems like your union would have stipulated per SHIFT....not per day. For example in Oregon if "sufficient rest time" is not given between shifts then it is considered the same shift....and I believe sufficient rest time is around 4 or 5 hours....this is why flight attendants must be paid if they have a 2 or 3 hour layover, but not a 6 hour layover. Hope I haven't just muddied the waters!:D

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Specializes in LTC, med-surg, critial care.

I get paid for anything over my 12 hour shift. This works for nights as well as days.

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Specializes in cardiac/critical care/ informatics.

anything over 40 hours is OT doesn't matter how many hours in a day.

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Specializes in Vents, Telemetry, Home Care, Home infusion.

dept of labor guidelines:

fact sheet #31: nursing care facilities under the fair labor ...

overtime:

employers must also pay all non-exempt employees a rate of time-and-one-half the regular rate of pay for each hour of overtime worked. nursing care facilities may pay employees overtime after 40 hours in a 7 day workweek or alternatively, use the "8 and 80" system. under the "8 and 80" system, the nursing care facility may pay employees -- with whom they have a prior agreement -- overtime for any hours worked after more than 8 hours in a day and more than 80 hours in a 14-day period

fact sheet #17n: nurses and the part 541 exemptions under the fair ...

"registered nurses who are paid on an hourly basis should receive overtime pay. however, registered nurses who are registered by the appropriate state examining board generally meet the duties requirements for the learned professional exemption, and if paid on a salary basis of at least $455 per week, may be classified as exempt.

licensed practical nurses and other similar health care employees, however, generally do not qualify as exempt learned professionals, regardless of work experience and training, because possession of a specialized advanced academic degree is not a standard prerequisite for entry into such occupations, and are entitled to overtime pay. "

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