What pay is fair for working extra shifts?

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OK, I am a salaried FNP working in a large, busy ER in the midwest. My salary is 110,00 with 4500.00 for CME and 5 weeks PTO. 401 K contributions and all that jazz.

My contract requires that I work 138 12 hour shifts per year, which equals out to about 36 hrs/weekly for 48 weeks. So here is my question. They frequently offer us extra shifts because they cannot get them filled. They say that they will pay us for the extra shifts quarterly as long as we have fullfilled our portion of the contract so far. However, the extra shifts are paid at the same hourly wage that our salary calculates out to (63.65 hourly I think), we are not paid any "extra" or given a bonus of any kind. Does this seem fair? I hear the nurses in our department talking about bonus shifts and overtime and it makes me wonder if I'm getting screwed?

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RN pay and NP pay is very different. RN almost always get paid 1.5 for every hour worked over 40 hours a week. They can also be offered bonuses to work extra shifts, such critical staffing bonus of $100 for the shift. NP usually work for small groups and their contracts are different. The group may or may not offer over time pay. If they don't is does not mean you are getting screwed. It is just the way the contract is set up. You may choose to work the extra shift or may refuse.

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Specializes in FNP, ONP.

Salaried people are not typically offered "time and a half" for picking up extra shifts. My group owns an urgent care, and occasionally they get in a bind and call around asking for someone to staff it in an emergency. It pays a flat $1,200/day or $1,500/night (these are 12 hour shifts), regardless of how many hours that would mean for the individual in the week. I don't work FT, so it wouldn't all be "OT" for me, only 3-4 hours of it. As it is, I've never volunteered for it anyway, but it wouldn't matter. The short notice pay is a flat offer, take it or leave it. I think that is a fairly high amount, meant to entice someone to say yes, obviously. I don't know how well it works, they usually get people willing to do it piece meal. Urgent care sucks, lol.

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I wouldn't mind if our hospital did the flat pay thing, as lomg as it was reasonable. AT first they said they would pay like 500.00 for an extra shift (12 hours), but I thought that was a total rip off, since that is quite a bit less per hour than I make now. So, they adjusted it to equal exactly what my normal 12 hour take home pay is. I guess I just feel like there should be some incentive to work an extra 12 hour shift because they are short. I don't know what they are paying the docs but I'm sure it's much more. I am not employed by a group, but a large regional hospital in the midwest.

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Specializes in Emergency.

Do you have to pick up "extra" shifts, or is it voluntary? I don't have to pick them up, so I don't, as the pay isn't worth my time. If they want to make it worth my time, then they can raise the pay for the extra shifts until I'm willing to pick them up. You are correct, I wouldn't work for the same salary as my regular shifts, however you need to get the rest of you co-workers to agree with you if you want to work the extra shifts but you want to also be paid more for them! lol

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