Published Nov 16, 2013
i_love_patient_care
154 Posts
My boss just let me know that my rate of pay is going down a couple of dollars an hour because of obamacare and a new law from Jerry Brown. (I'm in CA) Has anyone else heard or going to be affected by this? I pretty much told her if that's the case I won't be working there much longer.
cdsavannah59, CNA
244 Posts
I have not heard of this myself, but I live in Georgia. ( I am a former California resident myself) I wonder if the pay cut is because something about the Ca law is requiring more money to be paid out by your employer, therefore your employer is taking a part of it from your wages. You are justified in wanting to seek another job if that's the case. Those types of jobs you will never advance far in wages anyway. Now is the time to start searching for the new job if your wages are getting cut. do not quit the one you got until you get another job.
TheCommuter, BSN, RN
102 Articles; 27,612 Posts
Your pay rate is decreasing because your employer can get away with it in this sluggish economy. They are merely blaming it on 'ObamaCare' and Governer Brown because these two entities are convenient excuses to do what they have always wanted to do for so many years: slash wages and reduce staff.
Stephalump
2,723 Posts
I think it's a load of crap to blame it on "Obamacare." Your pay rate is being decreased because your employer doesn't want to decrease HIS (or more likely, their) payrate to make up for extra insurance costs.
wirehead
78 Posts
The Jerry Brown reference is most likely Proposition 30 which passed in Nov of 2012 causing California State to have the most progressive income tax rates of all the US states. Not only are taxes high, but fuel, and utilities add the cost of doing business as well. As for the Obama Care reference, if you consider that one-third of all the people on welfare in the nation reside in California, and the effect of the expansion of the Medi-Cal under the new ACA guidelines, the cost has to be made up somewhere. I believe that California has lost the most private insurance policies under the ACA because the burden is too great on employers to cover the increased premiums, and many small business owners will prefer to pay the penalty rather than cover their employees. It's not surprising that your rate of pay has decreased, and if you pay for insurance, don't be surprised if you lose it, or pay a higher premium. California will not be unique in this aspect, eventually it will affect us all, our pay rates will decrease or stay the same, and the work load will increase when you add all these new people to the system. There are some good aspects of the ACA, but it was rushed through, not well planned out, and the billions wasted on the junk website is disgraceful.
lovenotwar14
270 Posts
Agree
MrsKasandraByrd
2 Posts
I'm in Alabama and my pay rate is also being decreased. I am also being told it is because of Obamacare.
Pangea Reunited, ASN, RN
1,547 Posts
Lies! Lies!
LadyFree28, BSN, LPN, RN
8,429 Posts
Agree...but how many are going to agree with it and allow for wages to decrease, instead if fighting back against this nonsense????
SeaH20RN, BSN
142 Posts
I moved out of California be cause of all the taxes. Moved to Florida, no state tax. Work home health and after a year and a half they cut my pay. You just can't win! We deserve higher wages for the work we do and work load we carry. Where is nursing going? I see a decrease of wages for sure. You have to specialize. I'm currently going for wound care specialist. Good luck. Let us know what u decide ,
I was about to ask her what specific law, but stopped myself. I have an offer for private duty without an agency, and I'm taking it. I was going to be loyal to my agency, but obviously they care about the almighty dollar. I'm in home health, and they keep sending me to crazy people with weird living arrangements anyway.
I know there isn't a lot of career advancement unless I become a nurse. I have friends that are either on waiting lists forever, or take on a huge student loan debt for nursing school. Then, the ones that have finished nursing school either take forever to find a job, or haven't even found one yet (with a BSN). With all of these pay cuts, and the fact that most employees won't back up either nurses or caregivers/CNAs and appreciate all the hard work we do, I cannot see myself staying in this profession as a career.
I care about my patients/Residents, and have given my all to make sure they are happy, safe, comfortable, and dry... As someone who has a passion for helping others, it is very unfortunate that right now there is no appreciation for that. Rant over. Ugh.
I'm sorry to hear that