push back/cancel with no pay

Nurses General Nursing

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Our hospital has a policy where they can call you and tell you that you are "pushed back" until 12. Basically you are at their beck and call for 6 hours of your day, with no pay. They can call you at any given hour until until that 12 and you are expected to come in as soon as possible from that phone call. You can't go anywhere, do anything, because you are still responsible for coming in if they were to call WITH NO PAY. It is actually a policy written in the handbook so you can't dispute it. When asked why we are not getting paid, we are told we are not "on call" we are pushed back and still on the schedule. :mad:

My question is, where can I go to find out if this is ethical and within the law? I know it might varies within states, but couldnt find the right source.

Specializes in Med-Surg.

sounds like California is the place for nurses to work! All the rest of states' hospitals need to be Californiaized!!!:up:

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Specializes in ER/ICU/STICU.
Our hospital has a policy where they can call you and tell you that you are "pushed back" until 12. Basically you are at their beck and call for 6 hours of your day, with no pay. They can call you at any given hour until until that 12 and you are expected to come in as soon as possible from that phone call. You can't go anywhere, do anything, because you are still responsible for coming in if they were to call WITH NO PAY. It is actually a policy written in the handbook so you can't dispute it. When asked why we are not getting paid, we are told we are not "on call" we are pushed back and still on the schedule. :mad:

My question is, where can I go to find out if this is ethical and within the law? I know it might varies within states, but couldnt find the right source.

I think your best source of info would be your state's labor laws. In some states you are required to be paid for be on call while others you are not. Something sounds fishy here with your policy. Another option is to see if any labor lawyers offer a free initial consult to see if there are any options.

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For balance, I should add that the hospitals do not willingly agree to the benefits in a union contract. In Calif, there have been numerous nursing strikes . . . in fact, in the Bay area, another one may be coming.

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When I lived in West Virginia they had a policy where if they called you on your day off you had to come in right away. No excuses were accepted. They called it "mandatory overtime". If you didn't come in it was an automatic write-up. Thank Goodness, one of the nurses told me about it at orientation. I was at that job for 2 years and I did not answer my phone for 2 years either.:mad: They would use other people's cell phones to call you in order to try to trick you into answering the phone. :mad: Now I am in Florida and I certainly do believe that we need a nurse's union here in Florida. Absolutely!!!!!!

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

The oncall/push back per deim/ saves the hospital money- in wages and bene's and gives them a saftey net "just in case" census rises to the level the state Dept of Health says it's unsafe, a reportable infraction. Then the hospital has to pay big, major bucks for each understaffing infraction it gets dinged for- I think I read some where it's $approx $60,000/occurance.

I am wondering, at what nurse to patient ratio decide it is in understaffing infraction. It must to be high.

the hospital where I work, they are pushing it to be 7:1 ratio. They constanly add new tasks to already over tasked day's schedule. It is frustrating that I can't give enough individual attention to my patients. I am busy at completing the tasks! This is not why I became a nurse.

Some states require facilities to publically post( within the walls of the facility) their shift by shift staffing ratios.

Hopefully this will publicized in a big letter. This might bring some changes in nurse:patient ratio.

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Specializes in medical surgical.

My hospital has been acting the same. If you are scheduled at 0700 and they do not need you, they call you off but you must call back at 1000. They will then let you know if you are needed for the day. They claim they need to cut costs as so many patients do not have heath insurance. There is truth to that for sure! However, many of our nurses are in dire straights. I posted this before but got slammed. They cannot afford to retire, pay their mortgages, healthcare, meds ect. Of course, everyone is fussing about gas at the moment as we have not had raises for 3 years and we are almost at 3.50/gallon. I know it is your choice where to live but we are rural and many nurses drive over 50 miles each way. I do not, thankfully. This is also why I am going back to school. I will not be able to put up with this in a few years.

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Specializes in NICU, Post-partum.
The subject ot unionize or not to unionize is a difficult one. While I agree on some levels, I disagree on others. I think it is in the future cards but it will be a difficult road. Hospitals are very powerful and have alot of money to hire union busting consulting firms and I think it needs to be nurses represented by nurses. That would be an INteresting thread....

Here is what most people do not know about the formation of unions:

Once a union is formed..they have to SHUT THE FACILITY DOWN in order to fire every worker and not reopen at that location, to get rid of the union...you cannot fire someone for signing up for a union.

So, the fact that hospitals are "powerful" are true...but I can tell you now, that they are not going to shut down a hospital and relocate it in order to avoid a union.

Walmart did this with a location many years ago in Texas...there was a store that had become unionized...they simply, closed the store.

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sounds like California is the place for nurses to work! All the rest of states' hospitals need to be Californiaized!!!:up:

that's why california nurses have been hit the hardest by the economy.

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What pay cuts have these paragons of humanity/CEO's taken in the past few years. NOTHING!! How much do they earn???? It's all about what's good for the hospital?( this is the guilt trip to justify financial irresponsiblity, greed and CEO incompetence) If we didn't have the patients who are charity care??? Bull crap. If the CEO wasn't taking his big salary off the top, cut their pay, charity care wouldn't be used for the lame excuse it is. This is management's mess, med error, documentation error and it is harming millions in this country- the nurses, the patients, the unemployed, the uninsured. And nurses are asked to put their lives on hold for these creeps. Let's not forget the CEO who gets to retire 'after 40yrs of service' who started out as a COMPTROLLER( he knew how to pad books from the getgo)- 40 years of helping himself is more like it. Where's the paddy wagon?? Back it right up to his front door for the misappropriation of funds he did for 40years in a rural hospital. Collect the HR dept 'HEAD' and Nurse manager to keep him company.

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Specializes in ER, Trauma.

I believe the practice would be frowned upon by the labor board. My sentiment is that the hospital is entitled to what they pay for. No money/no workey! No matter what they call it, they are usung your time and for that you are entitled to pay.

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Our facility does the same thing but we are required to be on call the entire shift that we are cut back. Their reasoning is we were scheduled to work and therefore required to be available because it is OUR shift. No on call pay for those hours.

We are also required to take scheduled on-call days. Personally, they can keep their measley two bucks per hour and give me my life back. My floor is the only one in the hospital that requires the nurses/techs to take call. We are also required to float to other floors, but the other floors refuse to float to ours. I love my job, but burnout for myself and others on our floor is starting to take its toll.

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Specializes in Med-Surg.

We are also required to float to other floors, but the other floors refuse to float to ours. I love my job, but burnout for myself and others on our floor is starting to take its toll.

This sounds very much like the unit I am working at. :crying2:

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