Turned down 5 overtime shifts in 2 days...

Published

Specializes in Med/Surg, LTC/Geriatric.

Oh my. Even this is a record! I worked six, 8 hour shifts in a row, ending Thursday evening. Anything offered Friday or today would be overtime. My scheduling office has called 5 times since Friday morning. :eek: While it's hard to turn down double time, I already have 75 hours this pay period, plus I'm working the stat holiday on Monday which is double time. For a total of 82.5 hours.

Any more shifts on top of that and the taxes would just be insane. I don't think I would even see any of it take home.

Call me crazy! I just hope the overtime is still coming in the next few weeks when I don't have quite so many shifts booked!

Up Vote Up Vote ×

Sounds like we need to send some of the unemployed nurses your way.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, LTC/Geriatric.
Sounds like we need to send some of the unemployed nurses your way.

Well, it's either feast of famine. There are many nurses below me on the seniorty list who don't get as many hours as they want. They would have been offered these shifts before me (at straight time) but either turned them down or are already working.

Sunny, hot Saturday in the summer="sick" calls. If they hired a bunch more nurses, they would end up sitting by their phones every other day not getting called. I was availbe to work (both LTC and acute care) 4 days last week and the only call I got was a short call for an overnight in LTC, which I took as I was short on shifts for that pay period. And I have some seniority. If I wasn't getting any calls, those below me sure weren't either.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, LTC/Geriatric.

2 more calls, 7 in total. Finally accepted a 2300 to 0700 shift. We'll see if it shows much difference on my next cheque...

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Post Anesthesia.

I hear the "I wouldn't see any thing extra after taxes" logic all the time. AAAUGGHHH! You are not paying taxes each check- they deduct the expected tax liability based on the gross amount of a check so sure- if you earn a LOT it will look mathmaticaly like you are going to be rich this year and it will bump up the taxable withholding for the one check- Just the withholding- you will get it back when you file your taxes in the spring. If you constantly pick up time then you need to be at a higher witholding rate anyway. If you work just a straight week they will be deducting at too low a rate for the real overtime hounds. Look at the tax rate tables. In the $ range most nurses can earn there is very little difference between the rate taxed at our base $ or at double that for a big week of overtime. At most it will be another 5% witheld. If this dosen't happen every pay period, you are jus putting back a bit extra for your summer vacation.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in Med/Surg, LTC/Geriatric.
I hear the "I wouldn't see any thing extra after taxes" logic all the time. AAAUGGHHH! You are not paying taxes each check- they deduct the expected tax liability based on the gross amount of a check so sure- if you earn a LOT it will look mathmaticaly like you are going to be rich this year and it will bump up the taxable withholding for the one check- Just the withholding- you will get it back when you file your taxes in the spring. If you constantly pick up time then you need to be at a higher witholding rate anyway. If you work just a straight week they will be deducting at too low a rate for the real overtime hounds. Look at the tax rate tables. In the $ range most nurses can earn there is very little difference between the rate taxed at our base $ or at double that for a big week of overtime. At most it will be another 5% witheld. If this dosen't happen every pay period, you are jus putting back a bit extra for your summer vacation.

I'm in Canada, things are done differently here. And we are taxed a higher rate than you are in the states.

This will be a good test for me. 2 pay periods ago, I have the exact same number of hours as I do right now, except for this OT shift that I just accepted. So, when I see my next pay stub, it will tell me the exact $$ amount that I will actually take home from this OT shift. It will be a good indicator to me if I should accept more in the future when I already have a huge number of regular hours. If I had only 50-60 hours this pay period, then I would see way more of an OT shift take home pay.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
Specializes in ICU, ER.
I'm in Canada, things are done differently here. And we are taxed a higher rate than you are in the states.

This will be a good test for me. 2 pay periods ago, I have the exact same number of hours as I do right now, except for this OT shift that I just accepted. So, when I see my next pay stub, it will tell me the exact $$ amount that I will actually take home from this OT shift. It will be a good indicator to me if I should accept more in the future when I already have a huge number of regular hours. If I had only 50-60 hours this pay period, then I would see way more of an OT shift take home pay.

Can you let us know what you find out? I'm a new grad and just starting my first jobs and I want to know how many (ish) shifts I can accept without losing it all. :rolleyes:

Up Vote Up Vote ×

I'm also somewhat interested. Hired on full time currently and want to figure it out also. Excited for tonights shift as 7 hours of it is time and a half.

Up Vote Up Vote ×
+ Join the Discussion