:o My employer, which is a non-profit school residential treatment center for abused, disturbed, neglected, emotionally and mentally ill children. The employer has presented that nurses can (and should) punch in 14 minutes before shift starts and up to 14 minutes after shift in order to give and receive "report", ie an exchange of information regarding care and status of individual children. Within the 28 minute window,the nurse will be unpaid, due to"deminimus". If the time exceeds this, overtime will kick in and must be approved. The question is, if report is an essential part of nursing care to the children and required to do our jobs, should it not be paid time? The employer is in New York State.

Yes, it should, because you are under the control of your employer for that time. If you make under $700/week, you can file a claim for unpaid wages with the state Dept. of Labor, assuming, of course, that you are a nonexempt employee and are not exempt under the federal Professional exemption criteria.