Working off the clock

Yeah....not HR, but I think the difference is if you are exempt or not. If you're hourly, you have to be paid for time worked. I wouldn't know about termination, but you could very well get reprimanded (especially if OT kicks in and the company doesn't want to pay it if they don't have to).

If you're exempt, you could work 4 hours or 14, you're only going to get paid that amount you agreed upon at hire. 

@MelEpiRN im hourly non exempt 

Hopefully they will just pay the time worked and give a verbal reprimand (ie don't do this any more; if you do, you must be signed in and must have prior approval for OT if applicable...etc) 

Good luck ~

Talk to HR.  There is likely a policy regarding this issue.  Your first time with this issue will likely be a coaching.  There might even be circumstance where it is fine for you to hop on and get paid outside of your usual hours.  You need to find out your company policy.  The not working off the clock is likely part of the labor law in your state.

Nurse Beth said:

That you should not work off the clock may seem counterintuitive since you are being generous and conscientious, but there are good reasons.

Imagine you documented something incorrectly or made another error while working off the clock, and the matter went to court. This puts you in a highly vulnerable position.

The organization might choose not to defend you since you were not officially on duty at the time of the incident and were not under the supervision or direction of the employer.

The prosecuting attorney could assert that you were a reckless and rogue employee.

This is one reason I always advise new nurses never to clock out and continue documenting after their shift.

Yes agree this, and conversely, not you, but what if someone wasn't so nice and they were working off the clock and something happened where it took more time than it should and for whatever reason decided to sue the hospital saying this task was required of me after hours and they weren't clocked in and could show other instances of working where they weren't clocked in, again not saying you.  But in these instances, the hospital would be liable.