I took an RN job with a state agency that has classified me as an Exempt employee, which (I think) means my salary is divided up into semi-monthly paychecks and I get paid that. I work in Texas, if that helps.
I've always worked at private-sector employers, which meant that if I went over forty hour a week, I got paid time-and-a-half for those excess hours. That always made logical sense to me.
At this new job, I always thought that if you were an Exempt employee you don't get overtime pay, just something called Comp Time (which I'm assuming is just like PTO) instead. But the HR representative at my job said that state law made an exception for nurses, so we would get overtime pay unless we specifically asked HR for Comp Time instead. She also said that overtime was calculated over a two-week (80 hour) period, rather than 40 hours each week.
This is pretty relevant to me, since my new job entails me working 3 12-hour shifts one week and then 4 12-hour shifts that following week (a total of 84 hours bi-weekly). So I'm working 4 hours overtime. Does this mean I'm going to get time-and-a-half for those extra 4 hours? Or is it a terrible idea to pick up extra shifts and is my pay going to be diluted if I work extra and get the same salary rate each check?
