Survey - allnurses.com : Do you report overtime for missed breaks or late charting?

Nurses General Nursing

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Here are the results of last months survey question

Do you report overtime for missed breaks or late charting? :

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Please feel free to read and post any comments that you have right here in this discussion thread by clicking the "Post Reply" button.

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I hate to admit it but sometimes I work off the clock. They are always bugging us abut overtime and I DO go over sometimes but it's not unusual for me to work over a few hours or so a week for free. I'd like to have the money but sometimes it's not worth the fight.

-Russell

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I`ll give them 15 min. after shift has ended, after all, sometimes we`re just shooting the breeze.But our docs have discovered that if they decide that they "need" to do a procedure, then shift change means they have 2 more nurses on hand.( I work in 4 bed icu, 2 nurses per shift)That they pay me for. Almost never get a "legal: lunch, we just take turns running to cafeteria, grabbing food, and eat in front of monitors.....and have been told we can`t write "no lunch" on timecard.....I figure that i`ve gotten maybe 6 real lunch breaks in 5 years.......If/when I leave, figure I`ll sue em for all those 30 mins.......:D Yeah, right.....:roll

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Specializes in Geriatrics, LTC.

I should but I don't put in if I don't take a lunch.

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Not taking a break and not writing it down not only breaks MY budget (think about how much you make) but also floor sanity. We had the big talk about if you didn't take a lunch it was your own fault and hospitals don't make that much money...blah, blah, blah... I don't make that much money either and I feel I'm entitled to be paid for every minute I work...

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Specializes in Corrections, Psych, Med-Surg.

I like that "hospitals don't make that much money..." How many of the administrators and supervisors selflessly skip breaks and lunch every day to increase the hospital's productivity? Yeah, right.

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Specializes in Pediatrics.

YOU BET I DO!!!!!

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I usually come in 15-20 minutes before my shift to get myself settled -- that time is "mine" and I don't put this time in for overtime. If I miss lunch or stay late -- I always put in for overtime. We do not get overtime for missed breaks -- we are allotted 30 minutes (unpaid) per 8-hour shift. We've been told by upper management that the 15 minute break is a "courtesy" to staff and we are not allowed to put in for it if we don't take it.

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Specializes in NICU, PICU, PACU.

Actually, you are to have a 15 minute break for each 4 hours you work and for an 8 hour day, which is really 8.5, you get those two breaks and a lunch.

Like I said, our manager had become petty, so have we....we make sure we get our breaks and our lunches..we don't go out of our way to do anything extra in the way of favors for management anymore. They think our time isn't valuable, well, think again!

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Absolutely!

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Breaks are not "courtesy" - they are provided by federal labor laws which were won by union workers who fought for workers rights in the last century. Thanks to them, its now all worker's right to have a certain number of breaks depending on the total number of hours in the shift.

Tell your management to look up the law & to also stay tuned to the industry news & learn something - Tenet in California - a huge healthcare system - is being sued in court by UNAC - an AFL-CIO nurses union - for millions of $$$ in back wages for not paying its 7,000 nurses for missed breaks.

Your manager should understand that one gets taken to court when one breaks the law - not because one is merely being "discourteous"

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-jt, it depends on the state and situation. If not under a union contract, the laws are a lot different. The Department of Labor only requires one 30-minute break AFTER six hours of work. The 10-15 minute breaks are not included, and they are a courtesy, not a requirement. Most of us, that's what we have to live with.

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I work in a fast paced Pediatric/Adolescent doctor's office. I am the clinical supervisor who also covers triage when we are short staffed. The only time I can work on my "other" duties without being interrupted all the time is during my lunch time and after hours. SOOOOO, guess what? OT, big time :snif:

Can't help it and you bet I'm getting paid for it. :mad:

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