Working mandatory extra shifts?

pricklypear · May 18, 2005

If it were me, I'd find another job. But that's easier said than done for a lot of people. I will not work somewhere where I am mandated to work extra shifts. We were just discussing at work the other day how hospitals can get away with the things they do under the labor board. Well, someone called the labor board to clarify things, and apparently, in this state, health care employers can pretty much ask anything they want of you. They can even deny your right to a 30 minute lunch. I was not surprised. So far my employer has never demanded extra shifts from me, but the day they do is the day they get my 2 weeks.

Jolie, BSN · May 18, 2005

Is everyone/anyone having to do this too?
Being part-time, our benefits cost us more. Working every other weekend and the weekends have just happened to fall on MANY (all, for me, so far, except Halloween) holidays. We have family obligations, homes to care for, aging parents, children, grandkids....
How is it that WE are responsible for covering all the time when it is the hospital's responsibility to find new and adequate staffing???
Either we volunteer and schedule our extras or they mandate. Decreasing morale... What to do?

It never fails to exasperate me how hospitals and other institutions dump on their regular, hardworking staff. The FT and regular PT nurses always seem to bear the brunt of staffing problems, either thru mandatory OT or working short.

I would recommend consulting an attorney about your eligibility for increased benefits since you are being forced to work more than your agreed-upon schedule.

For example, in one hospital where I worked, .8FTE employees qualified for full benefits. .6 and .7FTE employees got partial benefits, and .5 got nothing. With mandatory OT, everyone ended up working roughly 2 additional shifts per pay period, making a .8FTE employee essentially full time, and a .6FTE employee the equivalent of .8FTE. Because of pressure from the nursing staff to pay the vacation and insurance benefits that were due these employees working more than their agreed-upon schedules, most of the mandatory OT stopped.

Why should the hospital get away with paying part-time benefits to an employee who is being forced to work full-time?

boulergirl, CNA · May 18, 2005

Well, someone called the labor board to clarify things, and apparently, in this state, health care employers can pretty much ask anything they want of you. They can even deny your right to a 30 minute lunch.

We have the opposite situation in Georgia. Where I work, if you skip your 30-minute break, you get written up, because the unpaid break is required by law.

pricklypear · May 18, 2005

We have the opposite situation in Georgia. Where I work, if you skip your 30-minute break, you get written up, because the unpaid break is required by law.

Can OT or mandatory extra shifts be forced on you in Georgia?

Tweety, BSN, RN · May 18, 2005

Fortunately it's not happening here. With my schedule for school, right now I'm only available for 3 12-hr. shifts a week and that's it. Most of the time the short staffed shifts are scheduled with volunteers. They short shifts are posted a couple of weeks ahead of time and people sign up voluntarily. Sometimes, though we do run short, but that's better than forcing someone to work.

I feel bad for those forced into mandatory overtime because it is so wrong. People have lives of their own to tend to.

pricklypear · May 18, 2005

Wow, I just looked at some of the labor laws in my state. Talk about geared to protect employers, not workers!! According to what I looked through, my employer could force me to work up to 24 hours at a time if they wanted to.

boulergirl, CNA · May 18, 2005

I don't know about nurses, but as a nursing assistant, I've never been forced to work overtime. Begged to, cajoled and sweet-talked to work OT, yes--but never forced.

boulergirl, CNA · May 18, 2005

According to what I looked through, my employer could force me to work up to 24 hours at a time if they wanted to.

WHOA!!! :eek: :eek: I thought they only got away with that kind of behavior in Third world sweatshops and slave camps! Lemme guess, the pay is almost as bad, too, isn't it?