Shift Differentials

JennRN65 · May 8, 2010

I understand if you work 12 hours, you get the base pay for the first 8 hours & time & a half for the last 4 hours....but what about the shift differential?
Say your night shift differential is $5....is it $5 for the whole 12 hours or is it only for the first 8 hours & then $7.50 for the next 4 hours?! I thought it was first one but read something different on an old thread.
Anyone??

You won't get base pay for the first 8 hours and time/half for the next four hours unless you are in OT. You will get your base rate for 12 hours unless it is specific to your institution to pay in that manner.

Shift differential don't change for OT purposes. If the shift diff is $5/hr, you will get that for all of the hours worked in that shift.

Nursey103, ADN, RN · May 8, 2010

The director of the hospital I just got hired for advised that I will in fact be getting my base pay for the first 8 hrs & time & a half for the next 4 hours.

I just checked my paperwork & it does say that.

Thanks!

onetiredmomma · May 8, 2010

Places that work 8 hour shifts usually pay straight pay on an 8/40 or 8/80 schedule: if you work over 8/day or over 40 a week, over 8 a day or 80 a pay period then you go into overtime. 12 hours over time is similar:12/day or 40/week, etc. Shift diff refers to 3-11p and 11p to 7a and is a per hour rate, no difference with overtime. Where I work we get base 7-3, add diff for the rest of the shift 3-7p. Make sense or more confusing!?

JoMark06 · May 8, 2010

The way it works at most facilities is this: (examples not exact dollar amts)

6pm to 7am gets an extra $2/hr

weekends from 7am to 6pm gets an extra $3/hr

weekends from 6pm to 7am gets an extra $5/hr

All of this on top of your base pay.

My facility actually does percentages of your base pay so it's different based on your yrs of experience:

Night shift makes 10% starting at 6pm.

Wknd day shift gets 25%

Wknd night shift gets 35% starting at 6pm.

Nursey103, ADN, RN · May 8, 2010

Wow....this is all pretty confusing...lol.

The paperwork I have states:

"I will be paid 8 hours at straight time and 4 hours at time and one-half of my rate."

It doesn't say how the differential is calculated in...

CNL2B · May 8, 2010

This is all very variable, and the rules at each individual facility can get complicated. You could probably get the info in writing from your manager or HR department (maybe payroll, depending.) And, watch your stubs to make sure they are getting it right. Many VA medical center employees nation wide have a big class-action lawsuit going on right now over differential pay -- to make a long story short, the VA for years paid RNs and other licensed staff straight pay for their vacation and holiday time when their employment paperwork said that if they routinely received differential pay (e.g. they were straight PMs and always got it) the VA was obligated to pay this out on their vacation time as well. And, payroll can just make plain old mistakes calculating your pay -- it happens a ton, usually NOT to your advantage.

Reno1978, BSN, RN · May 8, 2010

Shift differentials aren't included in the OT calculation where I work. The time and a half is for your base wage. So for example, if you made $30/hr, with a $5 differential, you'd make $35/hr for your first 8 hours and then $50 ($30x 1.5 + $5) for your following 4 hours. Your differential wouldn't change to $7.50 for your OT hours worked.

This is only how they're calculated where I work. Maybe they're adjusted for OT where you work.

Nursey103, ADN, RN · May 8, 2010

Shift differentials aren't included in the OT calculation where I work. The time and a half is for your base wage. So for example, if you made $30/hr, with a $5 differential, you'd make $35/hr for your first 8 hours and then $50 ($30x 1.5 + $5) for your following 4 hours. Your differential wouldn't change to $7.50 for your OT hours worked.
This is only how they're calculated where I work. Maybe they're adjusted for OT where you work.

Yea....I'm thinking that's what it will be like where I'm going to work. I never thought it was supposed to change to $7.50 but when someone mentioned that, I just thought I'd ask around.

Thanks for the replies :)

Meriwhen, ASN, BSN, MSN, RN · May 8, 2010

Shift diff doesn't change with OT--or holiday pay--in my place either--it's only the base hourly rate that gets adjusted.

casper1 · May 8, 2010

Congratulation on your new job. What state do you live in ? I heard that in Califonia time and a half is paid after working 8 hrs in a day, even if you only work one day a week. In New York you must work 40 hrs in a week before getting overtime.

EDRN-2010 · May 8, 2010

My hospitals pay checks have 4 line items

1. Total hours at base pay, 2. total hours at OT, 3. total hours at night diff, 4. total hours at weekend diff

This is how I would say you would get paid...

Pretend your Base pay is $30/hr and your differentials were $3 for nights and $5 for weekends

Lets say you only worked one day and it was Friday say 3pm-3am

You said your hospital pays OT after 8hrs, they must also have a set hour that the night/weekend differential start - lets say its 7pm for nights and 0000 on Friday for weekends since I am not sure what that is

Total hours at base pay: 8 hrs x $30/hr = $240

Total OT hrs: 4/hrs x ($30 x 1.5) = $180

Total night hours(after 7p): 8 hrs x $3/hr = $24

Total weekend hours(after 0000): 3hrs x $5 = $15

So if Friday was the only day you worked that week, you would add up all 4 lines to get your pay which I totaled as $459 (unless my math is wrong lol)

This is how my hospital does it anyway, your might be different but I would say that you definitely will not get 1.5 times the differential.

Good Luck!!

The director of the hospital I just got hired for advised that I will in fact be getting my base pay for the first 8 hrs & time & a half for the next 4 hours.
I just checked my paperwork & it does say that.
Thanks!