VA 72/80 schedule

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I work for the VA ER in Las Vegas, and our unit is considering the 72/80 schedule. Does anyone have any experience with this? If so, do you like it? What are some of the pros and cons?

Also, how does the AL and SL work when you take leave?

Do you still accumulate leave and retirement at the same rate?

Thanks. Any information will be helpful.

I work at the Roseburg VA. We have been trying for 3 years to implement it. I was told by HR that they could not code it for pay and thus it would not be implemented. I have approached my local congressman and am trying to get help from the legislative side of the government to motivate the VHA to update the payroll software to include coding for the 72/80 AWS.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Prehospital.

No you would work just like private sector 6 12 hr shifts that equal 72hrs over a pay period but per VA policy you are considered a full time 80hr employee though you are now logged for business purposes as 0.9fte

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Prehospital.

They have the ability to do this as I know several units in different VA hospitals that do. It would require work on the part of HR and payroll but it's not impossible.

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Prehospital.

I have a meeting this week with our management team, assistant chief, chief, HR, and the union to formally make a proposal for our unit to use this schedule. Will update with info afterwards and if it works I will help others if I can. Per the VA handbook if you write a formal request for an alternate work schedule, management has 20 days for a response with reasons why they will not accommodate if not and there are a list of questions they have to aknkowledge in the handbook when doing this evaluation.

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Hi EMT-2-RN, I was wandering if you were able to make any progress with you Chief of HR, in regards to the 72/80 work schedule. I have been slowly working on introducing the 72/80 work schedule to the Phoenix VA, but it would be really helpful to find out how this is successfully being implemented, in order to benefit both Nursing and the executives. Any information at this point would be very helpful. Thanks!

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Specializes in ER, ICU, Prehospital.

Unfortunately during our meeting the union rep emphasized to the upper management that if they did this they would be paying us for 8hrs every check we are not working and told them it is really a tool that should be utilized for recruitment. Well a lot of help the union was... They immediately said no to the idea and said we currently have zero vacancies in acute care. I tried multiple ways to sell the idea but they still said no. They did say they were open to letting us switch to 0.9 fte and work only 6 12hr shifts but our pay would drop by 10%. So we will soon be trialing that as about half the staff on my unit are still interested. So unfortunately the 72/80 AWS was a no go for us at this time. Good luck to you guys.

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Hi there! We have the 72/80 work schedule here in Chicago. But it seems our leadership is making us do an extra 8 hour shift to make it an 80 hour pay period instead of just 6-12 hr shifts. Per the VA handbook 5011 3 it states that 6-12 hour shifts is considered a 80 hour work week. It also states that anything above 72 hours should be overtime but that's not the current practice here. I just sent this to our NNU leaders to check it out. I don't expect anything from them since they are pretty lazy here.

We also do not accrue 12 hours for our vaca or sick which is not comparable to what we work. We also do not get holidays off per se. If we work a holiday we get time and a half, if we don't work we get the straight 8 hour pay but we still have to fulfill our 80 hours (you would think we would only have to work 72 hours after getting a holiday but not here.) It seems leadership interprets this differently where ever you work. NNU is no help at all. All of this is opposite of what private facilities that work 12 hour shifts do. It makes no sense at all.

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On ‎2‎/‎16‎/‎2018 at 1:48 AM, RoseburgRN said:

I work at the Roseburg VA. We have been trying for 3 years to implement it. I was told by HR that they could not code it for pay and thus it would not be implemented. I have approached my local congressman and am trying to get help from the legislative side of the government to motivate the VHA to update the payroll software to include coding for the 72/80 AWS.

Your HR are lazy!! If we can do it here in Chicago ( JESSE BROWN AND HINES) yours can do it too! They just choose not too! There is no reason why they cannot model our 72/80 along with payroll. We all use the same systems

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Specializes in Psychiatry.

I don't think they can have 72 hour pay periods. All the floor nurses on units that operate 24/7 work one 8 hour pay day and six 12 hour days for a total of 80 hrs. It seems like a real PITA to schedule.

Physicians and dentists get 26 days per year. Every other Title 38 clinical employee (including nurses) gets 8 hrs leave per pay period (26) so you too get 26 days annual leave per year. You get four hours sick leave per pay period and can use that SL quite literally. There's really no deviation from this as I understand it. Also nurses get locality pay based largely on a survey system (see TMS) and it is quite different than the pay schedule for any kind of ____ doctor, and they're both very different than GS salary employees. Regardless, you just keep bugging the heck out of people until you're a Nurse III. You can only rise to GS 14 and as a nurse III (and NP) I make as much as the GS 14s and anybody making more than me makes more than the GS 15 medical center director which is a bit amusing given the director's hubris.

So there's some salary and leave info.

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Specializes in Cardiology.
14 hours ago, MADDOG70 said:

Hi there! We have the 72/80 work schedule here in Chicago. But it seems our leadership is making us do an extra 8 hour shift to make it an 80 hour pay period instead of just 6-12 hr shifts. Per the VA handbook 5011 3 it states that 6-12 hour shifts is considered a 80 hour work week. It also states that anything above 72 hours should be overtime but that's not the current practice here. I just sent this to our NNU leaders to check it out. I don't expect anything from them since they are pretty lazy here.

We also do not accrue 12 hours for our vaca or sick which is not comparable to what we work. We also do not get holidays off per se. If we work a holiday we get time and a half, if we don't work we get the straight 8 hour pay but we still have to fulfill our 80 hours (you would think we would only have to work 72 hours after getting a holiday but not here.) It seems leadership interprets this differently where ever you work. NNU is no help at all. All of this is opposite of what private facilities that work 12 hour shifts do. It makes no sense at all.

That is odd. At my VA if you dont work a holiday that counts as your 8 hour shift....we dont have to do an extra. We have tried bringing up the 6 12's with our chief but she shoots it down, saying if we are allowed then she would have to allow all the floors in the hospital to do it. What it comes down to is that they dont want to pay for the extra nurse or two they would need to hire. Also, our chief nursing officer and medical center director HATE 12 hour shifts and if they had their way they would eliminate them but they are smart to realize they would have no nursing staff.

Do you guys do 8 hour or 12 hour charting?

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Give been learning alot lately about the VA and the regulations In the official VA handbook it states if nurses wanted 12 hr shifts they can have them. Google the handbook. Also i learned that the VA is forcing us to work an extra 8 hours and not pYing overtime. It says if you work 12 hours shifts. 72 per pay period its considered to be 80 hours full time. There is alot info in there the VA is not following their own rules. Our jobs are driven by policy and procedures. They don't follow them. NNU had been notified. Their useless. They won't even check it out.

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I don't know what you mean by 8 or 12 hour charting. We have CPRS. We chart as we go. Im ER. I don't know about floors. Read the official VA handbook. Im yoked we have to still do our 80 hours and can't have an 8 hour day off for holiday cause we don't have enough staff. We get overtime but I don't want it. My dads in hospice. I want my holiday off and not work my 80 hours too. Its insane here

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