shift differentials not as common as i thought?

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I am somewhat confused about my hiring pay rate. I am a LPN who just finished my program this spring. This coming fall I start the RN year. I have a bachelor's degree already in a non-nursing field. Anyway, I just got hired at a large hospital in a medium-sized city as a CNA/tech. I really want to get some experience working in a hospital and since most hospitals these days don't hire LPNs, I decided on a tech job. After looking at various job postings on this hosptial's website, I know that the lowest starting pay for this position is $11.17. I got hired to work the 3pm-11pm shift, mostly on weekends so I just assumed that I would probably be getting shift differential/weekend pay. I also had hoped they wouldn't start me out at the lowest possibly hourly rate since I am a LPN. Yesterday I had my orientation and they told me my starting pay would be....$11.17. When I asked about shift differentials they told me that I would get $2.00 more if I worked 7pm-7am or 11pm-7am but that's it. I am just wondering what others think. I am originally from a large city where shift differentials seem to be the standard thing. Am I getting screwed? Do you think I should have been offered more since I have my LPN license? Or is this pretty standard and I'm just misinformed?

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Specializes in Hospice / Ambulatory Clinic.

You were hired as a cna not an lpn so your lpn wasn't considered in your starting pay. Why would you be working as a cna anyways when you have a nursing license.

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I agree with the above poster. Unless you were hired as an LPN, you won't receive LPN pay. If you applied for a CNA position and got hired, you get paid the CNA rate. In most places you are paid by the position you got hired for, not by other licenses/certifications you may hold. If you want to work and be paid as an LPN, start looking into facilities that hire LPNs such as nursing homes, some LTCs, etc. Good luck.

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I went into this knowing I would not be paid the same as a LPN since I will not be working as a LPN. Once I am done with the RN program, I want to work in a large hospital and that is why I decided on a hosptial CNA job. I want to get some hands-on experience and get my foot in the door at this hospital. I don't think I should have been offered lots more money, but I do think it's an asset that I have my LPN license and have had more schooling etc than other CNAs. Anyway, even if they do not consider my LPN to base my starting pay, I am still mainly wondering about shift differentials. As I said in my original post, I thought that it was pretty standard these days to get a shift differential when working evenings and weekends.

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In my facilty you don't get a shift differential unitl after 6PM. But if you work the 3-11 shift, you still get it after 6. It is only .85 cents. ;)

As others have stated, you were hired as a CNA and will get that pay. I have not heard of getting more because of having a LPN license. I have heard the opposite..getting more money as a RN because you have X amount of years experience as a LPN.

Good luck in school!

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My facility recently changed their shift differential policy so that it only applies to 7p-7a and requires a minimum of 2 hours to apply. If you work 3-11 you'll get the differential for the last four hours of your shift but not the first four. They do offer a weekend differential but only started that policy about a year ago.

As for getting more because of an LPN license, I've never seen that. While going through nursing school it was very common in the hospitals to see someone working as a CNA who actually had an RN license and they didn't get paid more. It was just a way to get their foot in the door so when an RN position opened up they could be hired as an internal employee. However, they didn't do anything beyond the scope of a CNA! If your new employer asked you to function as an LPN you should definitely expect to be payed for that.

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Wow...I am a LPN working at a LTC for about a year now. I would NEVER consider working as a CNA ANYWHERE!!! Their work is so much more physically demanding than a LPN and they earn substiantially less. Every LPN I know who worked as a LPN while earning their RN, got a RN position in a hospital as soon as they graduated. I admire your excitiment but I question your wisdom! Good luck as CNA work is backbreaking work!

BTW, my facility doesn't EVER pay shift diff...

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Their work is so much more physically demanding than a LPN and they earn substiantially less.

Depends on your location and facility. Hospitals in my area pay new LPNs about $2 more an hour than a new CNA.

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Specializes in Home health, Ortho.

When I worked in Virginia the shift differential started at 7pm and it was about $3.50/hr, then when I moved to NY the differential was for the whole shift but was only $1/hr.

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Specializes in Adolescent Psych, PICU.

There is going to be a difference in shift diff's between a CNA and and LPN and RN---shift diff's are not the same for everyone across the board. When I worked at a nurse tech/CNA my shift diff was only $1/hr more for weekends/evenings/nights. Now as an RN my shift diff is $3/hr more for nights and another $3 on top of that for weekends so most of the time I'm making $6/hr more since I work nights and weekends. The 3-11pm shift diff is even less.

Just wanted to bring that up.

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Specializes in Emergency.

I was going to say what maryilymom said. Places often pay bigger shift diffs to the higher skill levels to attract those people to those shifts. I can say most hospitals work that way, nurses in general get a bigger anyone else. Though generally if they pay a weekend diff at all everyone gets it the same.

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Specializes in acute rehab, med surg, LTC, peds, home c.

I could be wrong but I thought there was some law about working below what your license qualifies you to do. When I got my RN license I still had an LPN license but could not work as an LPN or so I was told (I never actually tried to). For a short time I was licensed as both until I let the LPN license lapse. Why not just get a job as an LPN? It will take a couple of years at least to get the RN, are you willing to work as a cna all that time?

PS, No offense but shouldnt you have gotten this straight before you took the job?

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