Recently, I was called in to the DON's office and asked if I ever work out at the gym on my lunch break. I said that I hadn't, but have thought about doing it as I need to lose a few pounds and our company has been encouraging us to get healthier. I was then informed that one of the nurses had been doing so and that the floor nurses are not allowed to work out on our meal break or be off the unit for more than a few minutes during our shift. I seldom leave the unit except to go to the vending machine, and always have the cordless phone and pager with me at all times. I work at a small nursing home where there is only one floor nurse working and after 4pm and on weekends, there is only one nurse in the building. We all get 30 minutes deducted from our pay, even though we all know that we can not leave the building and need to be available to assist residents at all times, and we have all accepted that for years without complaint. On the rare occations that one of us fills out a "no lunch" form, we are paid for that time, but have to justify why we couldn't get a break.
In light of the DON/facility making an issue of what we can and can not do while on our "lunch break", we have all been discussing that it is not fair or legal for us to not be paid for our "lunch break" if we are not free of responsibility for the residents. So, I have written up a demand letter to HR stating that per Fair Labor Standards Act and State Labor Regulations, that unless we are completely free of all responsiblities and able to take our 30 minute break where and how we please, then we must be paid for that time. If we contact the state, we would be entitled to up to 2 years of back pay plus interest for those unpaid meal breaks, but we are just demanding that we be paid for our breaks from now on and liquidated damages for back pay. I know it seems crazy to fight for 30 minutes of pay, but it really adds up. That can be over $5,000.00 a year for a full time nurse. I don't know about you, but I could use that money. The facility made it an issue and now we are going to make sure that they pay us for our breaks as required by law. I know that there may be (ok, will surely be) some trouble for standing up for our rights, but the facility can not legally terminate an employee (even in an at-will state) for demanding to be paid for hours worked of for filing a complaint with the state.
That being said, I am writing the demand on behalf of all of the nurses and signing it "The Floor Nurses" as I do not want to be the only one putting my name to the demand letter. I would love it if all of us would sign the demand, but I think that just writing it in behalf of all of us will work. I am going to put a copy of the demand letter in all of the nurses' boxes (including mine) so they know what is going on. I attached the relevant supporting documentation for everyone and gave a deadline of June 16th for them to make the change and pay the liquid damages amount requested.
Everyone cross your fingers that everything goes well for us.
Your situation is a bit different from many of the " nurses don't get lunch" threads that populate AN. Where I work I don't get lunch, and I'm not paid for my time, but if I made multiple phone cals, and begged, and talked to the supervisors constantly- I could occasionaly get a lunch. In your case it is not possible in the relm of physics. You cannot be completely free of responsibility to the job if it is required to have a licenced health care provider on the premises 24/7 and you are the only one present. That isn't an issue of logistics or convenience, it's physics. I would call your states wage and hour regulatory agency and ask thier opinion of what ammounts to slavery and false imprisonment.
In my case I try not to make too many waves- I may not like the answer they come up with. In your case- there can't be a different answer- you cannot physicaly be free of all patient care responsibility while at the same time being the health care personel for the facillity.
suanna
1,549 Posts
Your situation is a bit different from many of the " nurses don't get lunch" threads that populate AN. Where I work I don't get lunch, and I'm not paid for my time, but if I made multiple phone cals, and begged, and talked to the supervisors constantly- I could occasionaly get a lunch. In your case it is not possible in the relm of physics. You cannot be completely free of responsibility to the job if it is required to have a licenced health care provider on the premises 24/7 and you are the only one present. That isn't an issue of logistics or convenience, it's physics. I would call your states wage and hour regulatory agency and ask thier opinion of what ammounts to slavery and false imprisonment.
In my case I try not to make too many waves- I may not like the answer they come up with. In your case- there can't be a different answer- you cannot physicaly be free of all patient care responsibility while at the same time being the health care personel for the facillity.