Why do we not get paid for lunch even if we never get to take one?

[leekaye]

Why do I work from 7-7:30 (12.5 hours) but only get paid for 12? This happens EVERY shift, not just once in a while. They say it's our responsibility to take a lunch but it's almost never possible. Some shifts I don't even get to pee and do my charting standing up during a spare minute between tasks. If we have 2 RNs for 14 patients on a busy med-surg floor with frequent admits and discharges, when IS there time for a break?!

And how is it ok that you're required to show up for a 5 hour morning class and then come to work for another 13 hours that night? And repeat it the following day as well?

Is this the norm for the industry or do I just have a crappy job?

[withasmilelpn]

FWIW, I could NEVER convince everyone on a shift to file the variance. There were just too many people who were scared to attract attention to their "poor time management".

Some were just not "rock the boat" kind of people, you name it, they had a reason for not doing it. In the end it screws EVERYONE, because unless everyone participates, it's just one or two people who are the 'problem'.

On the flip side, I used to work with a nurse who would declare it was her break time, and walk off the floor. Charge couldn't do anything because she WAS entitled to a break, and since none could be officially scheduled (too many variables in patient load on off-shifts) there wasn't much to do. Except have the nursing supervisor talk to her about breaking only when there was sufficient coverage, but we all knew what a crock THAT was. So....she took her breaks but we all were KILLING ourselves trying to cover those 30 minutes. And, yes, she got paid back FULLY by having no one available to help her at other times, and sometimes her meds were late or missed. Nice? No. But sometimes it gets ugly when only one person takes a lunch..... and everyone else is tired of covering. I can tell you that at one point, she DID stop that, finally, when it became clear to her she was VERY unpopular to work with!

Rock and a hard place. Entitled to lunch, but not entitled to screw over everyone else AND the patients. Just....not pretty

Whoa - meds not given? And why didn't you all ask her to cover for you in turn?

[RNKPCE]

Why? Because this is a frequent but illegal pattern in healthcare that staff put up with. I'd imagine most management at these facilities know this is going on and don't do anything about it. Where I work we rarely do not get our meal or rest breaks and if we don't get them we get paid one hour for any meal breaks missed and one hour for missing rest breaks. This is a state law.

Will your hospital's malpractice cover you if you make an error " while on your lunch break and off the clock" but really doing patient care? When on your timecard are you supposedly taking this break? 11:30a-12n? 1:30p- 2:00p? This is fraud on your hospitals part.

[OCNRN63, RN]

FWIW, I could NEVER convince everyone on a shift to file the variance. There were just too many people who were scared to attract attention to their "poor time management".

Some were just not "rock the boat" kind of people, you name it, they had a reason for not doing it. In the end it screws EVERYONE, because unless everyone participates, it's just one or two people who are the 'problem'.

On the flip side, I used to work with a nurse who would declare it was her break time, and walk off the floor. Charge couldn't do anything because she WAS entitled to a break, and since none could be officially scheduled (too many variables in patient load on off-shifts) there wasn't much to do. Except have the nursing supervisor talk to her about breaking only when there was sufficient coverage, but we all knew what a crock THAT was. So....she took her breaks but we all were KILLING ourselves trying to cover those 30 minutes. And, yes, she got paid back FULLY by having no one available to help her at other times, and sometimes her meds were late or missed. Nice? No. But sometimes it gets ugly when only one person takes a lunch..... and everyone else is tired of covering. I can tell you that at one point, she DID stop that, finally, when it became clear to her she was VERY unpopular to work with!

Rock and a hard place. Entitled to lunch, but not entitled to screw over everyone else AND the patients. Just....not pretty

Why didn't the rest of you do the same? What you're describing is what I would consider horizontal violence. She had the unmitigated temerity to leave the floor for her lunch, so her co-workers retaliated by refusing to help her. How nice for the patients, who wound up getting meds late because there was no teamwork on that unit. I can't believe a professional nurse would engage in such petty behavior.

Instead of taking frustration out on her, why didn't the staff put their collective foot down and demand that they get their lunch breaks too? This is an excellent example of the "Martyr Mary" syndrome. And before anyone says it's easy to say that, I have been there and done that.

I never knew it was criminal to take an uninterrupted lunch. Yes, every now and then, things come up, but that should be the exception, not the norm.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Whoa - meds not given? And why didn't you all ask her to cover for you in turn?

Yep, meds not given during the 30 minutes she was gone; she would have to catch up when she got back and/or give them earlier, before she left. Why? Because everyone ELSE was trying to get everything done. And why not ask her to cover? Who said we didn't try? But she couldn't, because SHE was too buried because she took that break! No time

Not saying it was a good solution, but after figuring out there wasn't time for her relaxation tape, she stuck around and did her job.

Everyone can say "oh but that's awful, you should have...." all they want, but the bottom line is patient care, patient safety, and if you can't deal with the job as it is (or you can't get anywhere with all the other recommended courses of action)......you vote with your feet!

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

Why didn't the rest of you do the same? What you're describing is what I would consider horizontal violence. She had the unmitigated temerity to leave the floor for her lunch, so her co-workers retaliated by refusing to help her. How nice for the patients, who wound up getting meds late because there was no teamwork on that unit. I can't believe a professional nurse would engage in such petty behavior.

Instead of taking frustration out on her, why didn't the staff put their collective foot down and demand that they get their lunch breaks too? This is an excellent example of the "Martyr Mary" syndrome. And before anyone says it's easy to say that, I have been there and done that.

I never knew it was criminal to take an uninterrupted lunch. Yes, every now and then, things come up, but that should be the exception, not the norm.

I'm afraid this is far harsher than deserved. I gave a snippet of info, not the entire story of the entire floor. There was teamwork. Patients got their meds. Nothing petty, just reality in trying to get more done than there was time for. Just confirming that the OP's situation is not unique, that this is a commonplace problem; I wasn't opening up an entire background of a problem on a specific unit at a specific time, for heaven's sake.

The nurses weren't awful. There was no "horizontal violence". It just was a lousy situation to be in, and we did the best we could. So yes, someone who routinely left the rest of the staff holding the bag caused more work for everyone else, and everyone dealt with it however they could.

It wasn't retaliation, it was impossible.

Guess I shouldn't have mentioned it....

[Red Kryptonite]

As much as we all like to snipe about our employers, I read things here and get reminded that I'm pretty well-off. If I truly didn't get a lunch, all I have to do is notify my staffing coordinators and they go in and revoke the auto-deduction for that half hour.

[RNsRWe, ASN, RN]

As much as we all like to snipe about our employers, I read things here and get reminded that I'm pretty well-off. If I truly didn't get a lunch, all I have to do is notify my staffing coordinators and they go in and revoke the auto-deduction for that half hour.

Fortunate, indeed!

[OCNRN63, RN]

I'm sorry, but retaliating against a nurse who refused to work during her lunch is just ridiculous. You should have been blaming the employer for putting all of you in an untenable situation, rather than taking it out on a nurse who quite rightly chose to take her lunch away from the unit.

It's unreasonable to expect people to work through lunch day after day. What if you'd had a staff nurse who was diabetic and needed to eat lunch? What about all of the accommodations that are given to nursing women? Would you have just expected that nurse to get engorged?

My response was tempered; it could have been far harsher, but I chose to bite my tongue.

[OCNRN63, RN]

And, yes, she got paid back FULLY by having no one available to help her at other times, and sometimes her meds were late or missed. Nice? No. But sometimes it gets ugly when only one person takes a lunch..... and everyone else is tired of covering. I can tell you that at one point, she DID stop that, finally, when it became clear to her she was VERY unpopular to work with!

​IOW, she was bullied into not taking lunch.

[melizerd, ASN, RN]

As much as we all like to snipe about our employers, I read things here and get reminded that I'm pretty well-off. If I truly didn't get a lunch, all I have to do is notify my staffing coordinators and they go in and revoke the auto-deduction for that half hour.

This. We have the option to just punch no lunch. Not a big deal once and awhile it happens. They really want us to take our break and it's rare that we don't. We also have good ratios and CNAs in my hospital. We do make a buck less than another near by organization but they have issues that I wouldn't want to deal with for a buck.

[KelRN215, BSN, RN]

If you are an hourly paid employee, you must be paid for all time worked, including if you've worked through lunch. A lunch break is only an unpaid break if you are completely relieved of your duties during that time. Hospitals have lost big lawsuits about this in the past.

Overtime lawsuit costs Beth Israel Deaconess and parent CareGroup $8.5 million - FierceHealthFinance - Health Finance, Healthcare Finance

[Lev, MSN, RN, NP]

I think all units should have a "relief nurse" or a charge RN without patients who will take over your whole group and take care of everything your patients need including medications so you can take a break. In my old hospital there were "Lunch nurses" in the ED who were there to take over so everyone could get a break. I would rather have 1 extra patient (still within normal ratios) than have 1 less patient and not get a break. Not getting to take my lunch break 75% of the time is one reason that I'm happy to be leaving med-surg. Med-surg = insanity. This wasn't just me, this was every other nurse including nurses who have worked the floor for years. They said every year it gets worse and worse. I will say, that some depends on where you work, your ratios, patient population, and how much documentation is expected of you. My other med-surg job is much easier although ratios are identical, there is much less documentation, and a better patient population (far less drug seeking/manipulative patients and others in that category).