PTO Problems

Nurses General Nursing

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Specializes in CHF, Med/Surg, Telemetry, Cardiac Care.

I'm curious to see if other floor nurses are currently in the same situation I find myself in. We use a PTO system in my hospital, but it seems that lately it's nearly impossible to use any unless it is for a scheduled vacation. I've been told by management that if any two RNs are on vacation the same week (day/night) then there is realistically no time for her to give, since she is budgeted for 80 hours/week. There would *maybe* be 8 hours available, and since we work 12 hour shifts, that available PTO would not even cover a full shift.

This was not the case in past years. I used to be able to strategically take a PTO day every two months or so to give myself a stretch of time off. I've pushed this up to HR who seemed to be clueless, as apparently every department has their own rules regarding PTO. :banghead:

Is anyone else having issues with PTO because of bigger issues such as budgeting?

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Specializes in SICU, trauma, neuro.

My hospital limits the amount of PTO that can be taken any given day, and blocks it off in the scheduling book once the granted PTO is capped. It's just so they don't have too many staff off at once. It's first come, first served. And then in the summer they also limit how much any one person can take because summer is the busy trauma season. So no month-long vacation over the summer (as much as I'd like to make July disappear! :roflmao:)

But as long as we have the hours and the unit has the staff, we get it. When you say budget issues, does that mean they haven't budged for any PTO? If so that doesn't sound right at all...it's yours that you earned. If the issue is they already have 5 RNs on PTO, therefore needing to cover them and won't be able to find even more coverage, that's how it goes.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.

Nothing new to me. The floor needs to be staffed; therefore, only a certain number of people can be off per day. Once the permissible number of slots are claimed, any PTO request that comes after those is denied. That's why I take advantage of the rule allowing us to submit PTO requests up to a year in advance- if I know I'm going to need off the week of June 10th for a family vacation, I submit that request on June 10th of the year before.

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Yeah, that happened at my hospital too. The way PTO was budgeted, only about half the staff could take a week off in summer. Not cool. One of the nurses wrote to the higher ups about it and some more hours were budgeted.

I avoid that mess and work per diem. :-D

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Specializes in CHF, Med/Surg, Telemetry, Cardiac Care.

The issue has been being unable to take it at all. One RN managed to get a day off because a part-timer was on vacation one week. Management has instructed us to continue to request days we need off, but not PTO days. We are also entitled to take a PTO cash out, which I am doing, but the fact of the matter is that even though 12 hours of PTO in my paycheck is nice, sometimes I don't want to work 3 shifts a week.

Even if I found coverage for a shift (let's say, for example, a per diem) and requested PTO, it would be denied because it would essentially be "double paying" - paying me for my time off, and that RN for working my shift.

Here's to hoping this is a short-term problem....

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PTO is earned for you to use as you wish. As HR is useless ( as usual) and your manager is interpreting it to their benefit.. review the policy yourself. You are entitled to request ANY day off in a future schedule .. and it must be granted.

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Specializes in OR, Nursing Professional Development.
PTO is earned for you to use as you wish. As HR is useless ( as usual) and your manager is interpreting it to their benefit.. review the policy yourself. You are entitled to request ANY day off in a future schedule .. and it must be granted.

Policies every place I've worked directly contradict the bolded phrase. Requests are not always guaranteed is included in the PTO policy of both places I've worked as a nurse and even in those places I worked part time in high school and college.

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Specializes in Infusion Nursing, Home Health Infusion.

It does not have to be granted because if all staff requested a certain day off there would be no one to work.I do believe your manager is using the PTO I an unusual way to keep her budget consistent from pay period to pay period.If she has to pay another RN to work your shift and then you PTO she believes she has gone over her 80 hours.That is bizarre way to budget since PTO is there for you to use as a benefit and it is your earned time off.I would pull the policy and read it and then stay on HRs back

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Specializes in CCU, SICU, CVSICU, Precepting & Teaching.
PTO is earned for you to use as you wish. As HR is useless ( as usual) and your manager is interpreting it to their benefit.. review the policy yourself. You are entitled to request ANY day off in a future schedule .. and it must be granted.

I've never found it to be true that a request for any day off in a future schedule must be granted? What if everyone requests off for Sally Sue's wedding? Surely, not every request can be granted.

PTO is earned, but lately, there seem to be very few places that actually let you use it as you wish. There are always rules and policies about how it must be used.

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We are required to request vacation a year in advance. Then we are put on a waiting list. This is forcing nurses to call in sick when they need a day off.

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I worked at a place where you had to "sprain your wrist" to get any time off, at all ....it was medical leave or REQUEST DENIED. Do you have any friends who could push you down the stairs? I used to ask co-workers to gently "bump" me with their cars when they saw me in the parking lot.

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I don't mind our system so much. We can request off up to 6 months in advance. Which means if I know I need a specific week off for vacation/a wedding/a family thing I put it in as soon as I can. In our department during prime time, every staff member gets to pick one week to be off. After that is accommodated they look at requested days off / long weekends (and those are granted in the order they were received). Sometimes that gets blown to pieces because of things that can't be foreseen - extended absences / FMLA etc.

I have never had to call out for a day I wanted off. We're allowed to ask coworkers to switch days off (and I do), plus, we have a relatively large group of PRN/per diems who love to pick up days. I've called out twice (not FMLA absences) in 4 years. Other than that, if I'm using PTO it's requested and approved days off or because I worked overnight on call.

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