I work as an RN at a LTC facility

My employers pay overtime but do their best to avoid doing so

We have been told that our work should be fininshed within 1/2 hour OF The SHIFT CHANGE.
Otherwise we are expected to punch out and come back to continue our work!

Frequently some RNs work a double - 16 hours
I do not know if they are paid overtime..

When I did a 16 hour day - I did not receive overtime as my work week was < 40 hours.

TIA for any input....:confused:

Nurses *can* fall under the professional exemption & need not be paid overtime:

http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/fairpay/fs17n_nurses.pdf

Non-exempt employees in NJ get paid overtime after 40 hrs. in a week.

NJ is a state that prohibits mandatory overtime for nurses unless in an emergency.

And even if they are treating you as nonexempt, since in the week you referenced your total hours did not exceed 40, no overtime would have been due anyway.

"we are expected to punch out and come back to continue our work!"

Since you are in healthcare, you must have a Compliance Dept or at least a Compliance Officer. Run the punching-out thing past them. If you are exempt, then it is okay to not pay you overtime, but it is not okay to make someone punch out or falsify time sheets.

Healthcare is under a lot of scrutiny, especially if your agency accepts Medicare or Medicaid. An organization that would tolerate falsifying time cards may also be suspected of falsifying other documentation related to payments. We are expected to adhere to a "culture of compliance" in all of our practices, even those involving employment & labor law.

If you report this even internally to Compliance or anyone in upper mgmt, you will be protected from retaliation as a whistleblower. NJ's Conscientious Employee Protection Act (CEPA) is very liberally applied, and provides protection whether you actually blow a whistle or even threaten to do so. and you don't have to be blowing the whistle to anyone outside of the company; reporting a compliance problem internally to upper mgmt is sufficient to give you whistleblower protection.

I am not exempt - I am paid by the hour

I have recieved overtime

Manangement makes every effort to keep overtime down, as bugeting may require.

However - there are those that they 'allow' overtime and others they request to punch out and return to work.
Sad to say there are those that comply.

there is a real gap between the real and the ideal in LTC beyond overtime issues.

new to nursing

thanks

As TSCompliance mentioned, falsifying time sheets is a real problem, and the employees are assisting these supervisors by doing it and not reporting the "request". What happens if the employees say no, I won't falsify my time sheet?

Nonexempt employees who aren't paid for all hours worked (clocked in or not) can file claims for unpaid wages with the state Dept. of Labor. My suggestion would be that the affected employees keep an extemporaneous record of their own hours, off-site. And a copy of the time sheet/card if at all possible.