PRN pay

[BITOHUNNY]

I have been working for a company for 10 years off and on full time to prn time and today they tell me they have changed their rules in 2011 and they no longer offer prn pay to NURSES nor do they offer any benefits to being a dependable employee .Are there any laws that help with this issue ?

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

As I have always understood it to be (and it could be different depending on facility/state) a PRN employee can (and sometimes do) work anywhere from one shift to 40 hours worth of shifts per week and it is a no benefitted positon. Some facilities do pay a tad more for PRN's as they do not get offered benefits, however, not unheard of to be paid the same as a full time nurse who is in a benefitted postion. Some facilities do ask that the PRN nurses work a shift a month and one weekend a month to stay in a PRN status.

Being a dependable employee, while wonderful for the facility, doesn't mean that one gets benefits. Usually one has to be hired for a full time "regular" position for that.

And with cost cutting measures, it is entirely possible that an entire nursing staff is made up of PRN employees, as to then not have to offer any benefits at all to anyone.

Unfortunetely, a growing theme seems to be that loyalty, dependability, those things that make nursing an art are not as important to many facilities as their bottom line.