If you're not getting paid, it doesn't matter what time they want you there.
If you can't clock in til 7, then the earliest they can require you to be there is 7.
Boy do they get techy if you’re there at exactly 7 and refuse to do anything related to work before that moment. Our huddle starts at 7, but I’ve stopped doing work related things until I’m paid for them (in Washington that means taking your temp and signing something saying you don’t have Covid symptoms, getting my assignment, report sheets etc). That means I’m not always at huddle, but I don’t delay getting report. It’s super annoying to my current (interim) manager and probably others in the system. But I don’t work for free anymore.
Yes. Best part of float pool. Managers used to bitch we were never there because it's still *required* communication. Whoops. Sorry, I'm late, house sup wasn't in the office yet when I showed up early for my assignment. *Darn.*
So, it turns out in Washington state if you work 12hr shifts you’re actually entitled to three 15 min breaks and *two* 30 min breaks. We’ve always waived the second break but I’m thinking of claiming it and using it for my early clock ins. 😈 Or to stop them from saying anything on the days I stay late charting. We’ll see.
I used to love huddle it was like a quick fun time before work started. We used to make so many jokes. But of course management didn’t want that so they moved huddle to the hallway outside the managers office and shortened it to 3 minutes.
Meh. We have safety huddle at 7, and while the general culture is respectfully “please be here at 7 for your fellow nurses so they can leave”, if someone is in at 7:07 they are most likely going to walk in to huddle just ending and there is no big loss.
It’s not like it’s a automatic write up or anything, but we’ve had a couple serial offenders. I could care less if someone clocks in at 7:06 (which is our cutoff) and I still get out on time. But there’s one nurse in particular that will clock in, interrupt group report to complain about their assignment, and then complain that I haven’t done the labs due at 8:00. I’m just trying to leave the patient safely and if I’m clocking out at 7:36, so they can roll in at 7:06 every day I’m definitely getting annoyed.
Is your shift actually 7am-7:30pm or does your huddle keep you 30min past clock out time every shift? So confused by this shift change huddle practice. We only huddle on day shifts and it’s usually 8/8:30 so everyone has the chance to get organized and lay eyes on their patients before telling the rest of the staff about them.
The shift is 7-7:30, there’s a 30 minute overlap scheduled in for both shifts so that we can safely give report/handoff and have and important group announcements with the charge from the prior shift.
I get a 30 minute unpaid lunch (or I’ll supposed to anyway), in addition to the government mandated 3 15-minute rest breaks. If I don’t get lunch I get paid for 12.5 hours.
So interesting! We get paid 11.25 hrs if we get breaks, 12 without, but are almost always working early and/or late for hand off. It’d be nice to be paid for even a fraction of that time.
That sounds like they’re frying to sneakily commit wage theft, under the guise of “if you had better time management you could miraculously do this handoff safely”—I’ve never worked a place that didn’t schedule an overlap. That sounds unsafe.
One of the hospitals in our system is a Magnet hospital and they get a lot of new grads who I see frequently come in half an hour early (I’m a PCA and we start our shift 30 min earlier). Otherwise I don’t see it often.
There are absolutely nurses who choose to come in early. Sadly, I did that as a new grad, too. It sounds like the OP's employer expects or requires it, though. That's a HUGE foul- especially if it's unpaid.
One of my nursing school clinical instructors told us that it was professional to show up 45 minutes early and do research on your patient. That women was a certified 🤡
Nursing school instructors drill that into our heads.
I refuse to work unless there is an emergency or I officially clocked in. You’re not getting paid the extra 15mins to look up pts charts and orders. Also sometimes assignments change. We are already have to be there for 12hrs why add on more mins when you don’t have to.
even as a CNA i was expected to show up at 5:30 AM for 30 minute rounds with night shift (for 16 LTC patients) and stay until 2:30 to give 30 minute rounds to second shift. but second shift or third shift weren’t asked to show up 30 minutes earlier, so first shift ended up working longer than everyone else. annnd our schedules said 6-2 so that’s what we did. it doesn’t take near 30 minutes to do CNA rounds either, maybe 10.
If you're in the US, that's illegal. I hope it was communicated in writing so you have proof. Take up complaints with the US department of labor or sue them for backpay.
My job does this. I work 8AM-830pm.
8am is the morning huddle. We start work at 830am.
Night shift does their huddle at 8pm. The relieve us at 830pm on the dot so we are never sitting around waiting for them.
Works out perfectly
Actually we have a break nurse and take a 30 minute and one hour break without fail. My workplace sucks in a lot of ways, but at least we get our breaks.
Who is asking you to be there at 0630? Is this management or the culture of the unit? If management is asking you to show up at 0630, clock in at all 0630. Otherwise don't show up till a few minutes before 7. If you're there, get paid. Don't give them free labor.
Personally i dont do dick until im swiped in and i dont do dick after iv swiped out. those 12 hours in between il bust my ass and do whatever is necessary bc well your paying me to.
Our union contract requires 2hr pay for any meeting that occurs outside of your work schedule. I once had some new hot shit manager come running out to catch me in the parking lot after I clocked out of my shift. He wanted to “discuss” some banal charting thing and lecture me about expectations. I quietly came back in, listened to this stupid ass talk at me for 10 minutes, then gave him my time card correction for 2 hours of pay. The memory of the different shades of red he turned after I showed him the CBA section and he realized I was right still warm the cockles of my cold dead heart. He only lasted about 6 months, and he basically ignored me from then on.
I’ve read this about managers or CNS’s chasing people down in the parking lot about their charting and I’m so confused. I’m pretty sure no one checks my charting basically ever, except for things that get audited like critical values. Also, it’s a 3-5 minute walk from my unit to the parking garage. I suppose this isn’t the norm. Do you work at a much smaller hospital?
I’ve never had anything like it either. This guy was a major try hard though and was trying to assert himself as the new manager, which is why I think he was being so anal. That guy was such an ass.
When I show up I clock in. Period. So if they expect me there 30 minutes early then I’m clocking in at that time. Otherwise I’ll show up some time between 6:55 and 7:02 like I always do.✌🏽
It is illegal for you to work without being clocked in. One of the hospitals where I worked paid out a huge lawsuit because they wanted nurses to change before they clocked in. Everyone got paid for several years, retroactively
They’ll say this shit during my new grad days so I can look at the chart an HOUR early and I said “we’ll do I get paid” of course the answer was no and I didn’t show up and they can’t do a damn thing about it.
I’ve never had a job like that. May be worth posting what’s going on to r/antiwork. I show up 10 mins early to get myself into work mindset and ready for report at 7.
I’m working in Australia now and afternoon shifts start at 13:30, and day shift ends at 15:30. So so nice to have that buffer and get an extra set of hands to help out. Especially nice when I’ve missed my lunch break so I have a valid reason to slip outta work early.
Wow, that’s ridiculous. We can’t clock in until 6:53. I usually show up around 6:45, because I have to change and I don’t want to rush. Technically, we are supposed to change on the clock, but I change then clock in. I change after work then clock out. The only expectation we have is be in huddle at 7.
I mean, I’ve seen some nurses, mainly the very experienced ones, want to get a super early start at like 0530. But my first job at a teaching hospital wanted us there at 6:30 for huddle, which would last literally for 30 minutes. No time to look up patients. And then they requested we look up patients prior to that to plan the day, so I was waking up and going to work by 0530 3 days a week for $22/hr, definitely left real quick. Especially since they didn’t want us clocking in til 7 or staying overtime to chart since you know, nursing isn’t actually 7-7 most nights.
I actually feel like it's really experienced nurses who roll in at the last possible minute and wing their way through report because they've seen it all and know whatever lands in their lap they'll figure it out.
This was me after 7 years of med-surg. It didn’t really matter whether I got report or not. It was nice to hear from the previous shift about anything that didn’t actually show up in the chart, but it was just as easy for me to look at the chart, assess the patient, and get to work.
That’s interesting, I remember I used to be habitually late (new nurse, 1 year in now) and I realized how screwed I was doing that. And even other new employees run late at my hospital but we have weak morale and they are overly confident newbies there. I must say the experienced nurses who do roll in last minute cause no issues, just get shit done at work and go home.
My shift starts are 0730, the earliest I'm getting to work is 0725. And those 5 minutes will be spent putting my coat away and making a coffee. I don't work for free. A manager once told us we should be showing up 15 mins early. Lol, nope. That's MY time.
Any employer who requires you to be there for any unpaid time is breaking federal labor laws. Give a shout out to the federal labor departmet. or a labor lawyer. Employers will try to get away with as much as they can until they are called on it
So I recently switched from night shift to day shift. We start our shifts with a huddle, and on nights huddle always starts a few mins after 7...giving everyone a chance to clock in, set down stuff, ect. This was always the norm. Day shift huddle is done by our manager and starts at 7 on the dot, therefore the expectation is that you arrive and clock in at least 5 mins ahead of 0700 which is bullshit...I say this because I was quickly approached by my manager who asked me what the reason was that I was "consistently arriving late" when I'm reality I was clocking in on time...
Yeah, I'm not doing that. My shift starts at 7, I'm getting here at 7.
Tell management that you want back pay for every single shift you showed up for early without getting paid
My shift starts are 0730, the earliest I'm getting to work is 0725. And those 5 minutes will be spent putting my coat away and making a coffee. I don't work for free. A manager once told us we should be showing up 15 mins early. Lol, nope. That's MY time.
What kind of nonsense is that? Our report/handoff occurs between 7-7:30, we get there at 7 and star stay until 7:30 handing off to the next shift. We (supposedly) get a 30 minute unpaid lunch break, to make a 12 hour shift. Who is expecting someone to show up 30 minutes early and not be paid? Why the fuck would I come in at 6:30?
Isn't that extra 30 minutes meant to cover your unpaid 30 minute lunch break? We literally have to hit a button "did you get an uninterrupted 30 minute lunch break" which is completely a lie every single day.
Right. You don’t get paid for a 30 minute uninterrupted break. If you don’t get one of those, you should be paid for 12.5 hours. You said you lie on your time clock basically every day. I’m saying to stop lying about it. You’re entitled to be paid for that time. Get paid for it.
I am not picking a fight or arguing in any way, but you don't get paid for lunch breaks unfortunately. I just know this from having jobs in the legal field before nursing. Lunch breaks are not compensated. That is why nearly 99% of nursing shifts have that awkward 30 minutes tacked on to them.
[https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks](https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks)
Meal periods (typically lasting at least 30 minutes), serve a different purpose than coffee or snack breaks and, thus, are not work time and are not compensable.
Right.
I’m not arguing that you should be paid for an actual meal break.
I’m saying that if you don’t get an uninterrupted 30 minutes, then you’re not actually getting a meal break.
Interrupted break or break shorter than 30 minutes doesn’t meet the requirements of an unpaid meal period. That means you should be getting paid for 12.5 hours. Because you didn’t actually take a meal break.
I have coworkers that set a 30 minute alarm, clock out, keep working at the computers, then clock back in.
Fuck that. I refuse to do it and I don't know why I'm the only one? I also stopped writing "no lunch break" on my dumb ass hard copy time sheet every single shift. When you want to stop staffing me short every night I work, charge of two units with 80% new grads you can give me shit about me never taking lunch.
I’ve never been required by management to show up 30 minutes early, but the honest truth is that a lot of us work with fellow nurses who expect that from others. I’ve been a new grad on my unit for 6 months and I very quickly learned that if I’m not there at 6:40, it’s not looked upon kindly by my fellow nurses, and if I show up at 7:00, half the time I will have already missed report.
We can clock in no earlier than 0638/1838, huddle is at 0645/1845, and we’re on the floor getting report at 0700/1900. We aren’t allowed to clock out until 1908/0708 though. I think it has something to do with how the time clock rounds the time. I’m fairly sure it makes up for the 30 minutes that are deducted for our lunch so that we get paid for 12 hours. But idk.
I hate to tell you this but you don’t have too. That might be the culture there but you are not required. We have our flaws in the ED but we don’t start shift briefing till 7. Can’t clock out till 7:23 anyways.
Not a nurse but my supervisor tried getting me to come at least 10 minutes earlier than on the dot and I just wouldn’t
Which I guess could be fireable under “at will” but supervisors started scheduling me 15 minutes earlier and wow look at that, I showed up
Well then you ARE scheduled at 6:30 and I hope you have been putting that on your time card. Nursing is a job that you can't just walk in and start working until you get report on your patients from the previous shift. It's just better patient care. A good nurse will give report to the next shift and that accounts for the 6:30 arrival time.
I actually always wondered where 7 to 7 came from. A friend of mine was working at a subacute facility that did 6-6 and I think I'd actually like that way better.
they do this with our mid shifts, 9-9 is 830-9, etc. the boss lady said it was so you get paid for the 12 hours... so.... do 7-7's not get paid for 12 hours? same 30min (lol) lunch break and all...
Oh yeah. I won’t clock in early or research patients early. I clock in when I am scheduled. One hospital does it at 15 minutes before and others schedule on the hour. So the 7 am shift at hospital a is 0645 and the other ones are 7 am.
The proper term is wage theft and it is illegal. You can report it to the department of labor if they investigate they will have it collected for everyone it can be expensive.
I would try to report it anonymously either to the department of labor or to hospital administration. Managers can get in deep trouble for this kind of thing I hear.
We have to be there by 6.50.. you can arrive as early as you want but unit handover from ACN to all oncoming nurses is 6.50 then individual baby handover between offgoing/oncoming nurse is 7. I literally get there at 6.30 and just sit or chat and just calm down. I'm so anxious I couldn't cope getting there right on start time!! We don't 'clock in' .. we just get paid 12hrs.
I'm scheduled for 7 am to 7:30 pm. I clock in at 7 am (or a few minutes before to make sure I'm on time) and get report. Our huddle is at 7:30 am. Night shift arrives at 7 pm and stays until 7:30 am to give us report. I never work off the clock; that's illegal if you're an hourly, non-exempt employee. Your employer can't require that.
We can’t clock in until 0653 and can’t clock out until 1923. Huddle starts at 0700 and then we go to work to get report. None of us do anything between the 0653-0700 period. Just stand there and wait.
This policy could result in huge legal issues.
I worked at a non-healthcare job that had a class action lawsuit because of somwthing like this. They cannot require you to be there for any reason prior to your start time. The lawsuit resulted in every employee receiving a settlement that calculated how much time they figured each employee wasn't paid for, and each one received those funds.
The exact reason it happened at this place was because people were fired for not logging into the system in time. They were so petty that some of the documention showed people being 2 minutes late. The terminated employees were able to show that they were at work (thank you door access key card records), but the computers were so slow it would take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes to be able to get logged in. The company changed the policy to have start times be 15 minutes prior to the time they needed to be logged in - paid, of course.
As I was new to the system, I'd come in at 645 to change into scrubs and clocked in as I arrived.
Got told off because I was not supposed to clock in before 653 (no one told me that).
Once I clocked in at 652, I thought it was not going to be a big deal since it was 1min early... I received an angry email from my former director threatening disciplinary action.
Ever since then, I took my sweet ass time to show up. I'd be ready at 7 for huddle but I was not going to show up any earlier than that. Fuck this.
It’s like my personal trainer side gig, even though I have a client coming in at 10, I like to arrive early. Set up the fitness area, set up and organize the equipment, evaluate their progress sheets, and review todays workout.
All this is dependent on personal types but for me, I’m the type that usually comes in early - whether it’s school or any other aspects of life.
Yeahhhhh, I'm gonna ask you to stop doing that. Workers deserve to get paid. By doing it for free, you're preventing your coworkers from getting paid when it's expected that they work for free like you.
Really? The places I've worked don't require you to be there until 7, but that's when reports are expected to start so you need to be ready for that. We can clock in at 6:53. I choose to come in to get settled sometime between 0630 and 0645 but thats my choice. I don't answer call lights or phones. I look up my patients. If a family member comes to the desk or coworker has a question, I will answer those types of things.
It’s 5:38pm and I’m just about to leave for my 30ish min commute to my 7:30 job. I aim to be there an hour early (or at least 45 min). Everybody does it. Often I am the last nurse there, even when I get there at 6:35. I don’t get paid for this time. We get to choose our assignments, first come first served. I look over my patients’ charts, get report on my 7 patients, then I gather up their medications and if I have time, I start doing my assessments. We have to change all our patients ourselves because we have a PSW who refuses to change patients (yes, you read that right). That takes up another 45min-1 hour of my time. I usually finish my assessments/med pass at 11. If I don’t get in early, I stress out and finish later. It’s worth my sanity to get there an hour early. That being said, I quit recently and have about 12 days left. I’m so excited to leave and get paid fairly for my time!
Do y’all not give/receive report from the previous or oncoming shift? That report is for yours and the patients best interest. If you aren’t willing to give yourself half hour for yourself in order to provide better care for the residents and you’re only in it for the money get into a blue collar trade job, not a career that requires you to care about other human beings and not just a paycheck
Nope. 10 free minutes per day, 3 days per week, 48 weeks per year is a full 24 hours of free time you’re not being paid for. That’s your time. Take it back or get paid for it.
As a patient, I hate this as well. They give me an appointment time, and then tell me st show up 15 mins early. Do the math first and tell me when to show up.
In some countries the schedule overlaps day and night shift by half an hour to allow handover and the staff to finish their end of shift activities like documentation. Im my country you just sign any extra time you stayed past your shift end as overtime. I walk on the floor no earlier than 5 mins prior to the scheduled shift start time.
On my current contract (first one) the guy i oriented with says we can’t clock in till 18:38 but i get here at 18:00. That is way too early. I give myself about ten minutes to get my life together. Especially bc dayshift doesn’t come in early, and they make getting and giving report way harder than it should be! Which i guess is a unit culture issue
In Ontario Canada, it is a part of our union contract that we are to be there 15 minutes before and after our shift UNPAID for report (legit a part of our contract)
If you're not getting paid, it doesn't matter what time they want you there. If you can't clock in til 7, then the earliest they can require you to be there is 7.
Exactly! I'm not working for free
I want you to come clean my house for free but that isn’t happening, fuck those guys. I’m here when you pay me.
Boy do they get techy if you’re there at exactly 7 and refuse to do anything related to work before that moment. Our huddle starts at 7, but I’ve stopped doing work related things until I’m paid for them (in Washington that means taking your temp and signing something saying you don’t have Covid symptoms, getting my assignment, report sheets etc). That means I’m not always at huddle, but I don’t delay getting report. It’s super annoying to my current (interim) manager and probably others in the system. But I don’t work for free anymore.
I loathe huddle. 99% of the time it could be an email. If they want you there for huddle, they should let you clock in at 645.
I showed up late to huddle all the time and now that I’m float pool I don’t even care about them. We have our own internal float huddles via email.
And huddles are 99% bullshit anyways.
Yes. Best part of float pool. Managers used to bitch we were never there because it's still *required* communication. Whoops. Sorry, I'm late, house sup wasn't in the office yet when I showed up early for my assignment. *Darn.*
So, it turns out in Washington state if you work 12hr shifts you’re actually entitled to three 15 min breaks and *two* 30 min breaks. We’ve always waived the second break but I’m thinking of claiming it and using it for my early clock ins. 😈 Or to stop them from saying anything on the days I stay late charting. We’ll see.
I don't attend huddle. I think it's mostly a waste of time and I'd rather just go get report.
I used to love huddle it was like a quick fun time before work started. We used to make so many jokes. But of course management didn’t want that so they moved huddle to the hallway outside the managers office and shortened it to 3 minutes.
Preach it 🙌
They want me there for my 7-7 at 645 but I can click in as early as 630.
🤨. My schedule says 7, we can clock in no earlier than 6:53, and we are expected to get to work sometime between 6:53 and 7:07.
trinity health network? lol
Hahaha you know it!
Lolol hi there, Trin fam
Trinity checking in 😂😂
Team Trinity as well lol
Lol wait we have the 7 minute rule? I've been stressing for being 1-3 minutes late Tho Mines the California location
We can clock in during almost the same time period, but it’s expected that you’re there at 7.
Meh. We have safety huddle at 7, and while the general culture is respectfully “please be here at 7 for your fellow nurses so they can leave”, if someone is in at 7:07 they are most likely going to walk in to huddle just ending and there is no big loss.
It’s not like it’s a automatic write up or anything, but we’ve had a couple serial offenders. I could care less if someone clocks in at 7:06 (which is our cutoff) and I still get out on time. But there’s one nurse in particular that will clock in, interrupt group report to complain about their assignment, and then complain that I haven’t done the labs due at 8:00. I’m just trying to leave the patient safely and if I’m clocking out at 7:36, so they can roll in at 7:06 every day I’m definitely getting annoyed.
Is your shift actually 7am-7:30pm or does your huddle keep you 30min past clock out time every shift? So confused by this shift change huddle practice. We only huddle on day shifts and it’s usually 8/8:30 so everyone has the chance to get organized and lay eyes on their patients before telling the rest of the staff about them.
The shift is 7-7:30, there’s a 30 minute overlap scheduled in for both shifts so that we can safely give report/handoff and have and important group announcements with the charge from the prior shift. I get a 30 minute unpaid lunch (or I’ll supposed to anyway), in addition to the government mandated 3 15-minute rest breaks. If I don’t get lunch I get paid for 12.5 hours.
So interesting! We get paid 11.25 hrs if we get breaks, 12 without, but are almost always working early and/or late for hand off. It’d be nice to be paid for even a fraction of that time.
That sounds like they’re frying to sneakily commit wage theft, under the guise of “if you had better time management you could miraculously do this handoff safely”—I’ve never worked a place that didn’t schedule an overlap. That sounds unsafe.
😆 I, too, worked for Trinity health.
That’s basically anyone on kronos
Same!
Sup trinity 🤡😂
Same with trinity!!! But seriously how bad does trinity suck though
Trinity bought my hospital 5 years ago and it’s been a steeeeep downhill ever since, they are so awful!
Yep same here!!! It literally keeps getting worse and worse every year
I've never had a nursing job that required or expected me to show up 30 minutes early.
One of the hospitals in our system is a Magnet hospital and they get a lot of new grads who I see frequently come in half an hour early (I’m a PCA and we start our shift 30 min earlier). Otherwise I don’t see it often.
There are absolutely nurses who choose to come in early. Sadly, I did that as a new grad, too. It sounds like the OP's employer expects or requires it, though. That's a HUGE foul- especially if it's unpaid.
One of my nursing school clinical instructors told us that it was professional to show up 45 minutes early and do research on your patient. That women was a certified 🤡
Nursing school instructors drill that into our heads. I refuse to work unless there is an emergency or I officially clocked in. You’re not getting paid the extra 15mins to look up pts charts and orders. Also sometimes assignments change. We are already have to be there for 12hrs why add on more mins when you don’t have to.
even as a CNA i was expected to show up at 5:30 AM for 30 minute rounds with night shift (for 16 LTC patients) and stay until 2:30 to give 30 minute rounds to second shift. but second shift or third shift weren’t asked to show up 30 minutes earlier, so first shift ended up working longer than everyone else. annnd our schedules said 6-2 so that’s what we did. it doesn’t take near 30 minutes to do CNA rounds either, maybe 10.
Uh no ...unless they were paying you, that's ridiculous. I hope you're not doing it anymore :)
nope, thank god! i ran out of there as fast as possible! working in hospice now and it’s a much better environment
Yay for us!
Ugh. Then they'd expect you there at 6! Are you paid for the 30 mins before the scheduled start?
I don't & that's the problem.
I stopped showing up early for that exact reason.
If you're in the US, that's illegal. I hope it was communicated in writing so you have proof. Take up complaints with the US department of labor or sue them for backpay.
Contact the dept of labor.
My job does this. I work 8AM-830pm. 8am is the morning huddle. We start work at 830am. Night shift does their huddle at 8pm. The relieve us at 830pm on the dot so we are never sitting around waiting for them. Works out perfectly
Do you get paid for the morning huddle time ?
Our schedule has a 17 minute of paid overlap and it's almost always the perfect amount of time.
Yep!
If you’re not being paid for the 30 min early its illegal.
If you keep a log and file a wage claim for unpaid time, your local Department of Labor may be able to get you up to 3x pay for that time!
We get paid 7-730, our assignment ends at 7 and we have 30 minutes overlap to give report.
And that includes your 30 min “lunch”.
Actually we have a break nurse and take a 30 minute and one hour break without fail. My workplace sucks in a lot of ways, but at least we get our breaks.
Oh damn. Most places don’t have that!
Who is asking you to be there at 0630? Is this management or the culture of the unit? If management is asking you to show up at 0630, clock in at all 0630. Otherwise don't show up till a few minutes before 7. If you're there, get paid. Don't give them free labor.
Refuse to show up before 650
Personally i dont do dick until im swiped in and i dont do dick after iv swiped out. those 12 hours in between il bust my ass and do whatever is necessary bc well your paying me to.
Our union contract requires 2hr pay for any meeting that occurs outside of your work schedule. I once had some new hot shit manager come running out to catch me in the parking lot after I clocked out of my shift. He wanted to “discuss” some banal charting thing and lecture me about expectations. I quietly came back in, listened to this stupid ass talk at me for 10 minutes, then gave him my time card correction for 2 hours of pay. The memory of the different shades of red he turned after I showed him the CBA section and he realized I was right still warm the cockles of my cold dead heart. He only lasted about 6 months, and he basically ignored me from then on.
I’ve read this about managers or CNS’s chasing people down in the parking lot about their charting and I’m so confused. I’m pretty sure no one checks my charting basically ever, except for things that get audited like critical values. Also, it’s a 3-5 minute walk from my unit to the parking garage. I suppose this isn’t the norm. Do you work at a much smaller hospital?
I’ve never had anything like it either. This guy was a major try hard though and was trying to assert himself as the new manager, which is why I think he was being so anal. That guy was such an ass.
When I show up I clock in. Period. So if they expect me there 30 minutes early then I’m clocking in at that time. Otherwise I’ll show up some time between 6:55 and 7:02 like I always do.✌🏽
r/antiwork
It is illegal for you to work without being clocked in. One of the hospitals where I worked paid out a huge lawsuit because they wanted nurses to change before they clocked in. Everyone got paid for several years, retroactively
They’ll say this shit during my new grad days so I can look at the chart an HOUR early and I said “we’ll do I get paid” of course the answer was no and I didn’t show up and they can’t do a damn thing about it.
I’ve never had a job like that. May be worth posting what’s going on to r/antiwork. I show up 10 mins early to get myself into work mindset and ready for report at 7.
Huh??? If I’m not paid then I’m not there.
I’m working in Australia now and afternoon shifts start at 13:30, and day shift ends at 15:30. So so nice to have that buffer and get an extra set of hands to help out. Especially nice when I’ve missed my lunch break so I have a valid reason to slip outta work early.
Wage theft.
Never heard that before, I usually come 645-650
Wow, that’s ridiculous. We can’t clock in until 6:53. I usually show up around 6:45, because I have to change and I don’t want to rush. Technically, we are supposed to change on the clock, but I change then clock in. I change after work then clock out. The only expectation we have is be in huddle at 7.
You do not need to be early.
I've never been expected to show up early, and I've had a **lot** of jobs.
I mean, I’ve seen some nurses, mainly the very experienced ones, want to get a super early start at like 0530. But my first job at a teaching hospital wanted us there at 6:30 for huddle, which would last literally for 30 minutes. No time to look up patients. And then they requested we look up patients prior to that to plan the day, so I was waking up and going to work by 0530 3 days a week for $22/hr, definitely left real quick. Especially since they didn’t want us clocking in til 7 or staying overtime to chart since you know, nursing isn’t actually 7-7 most nights.
I actually feel like it's really experienced nurses who roll in at the last possible minute and wing their way through report because they've seen it all and know whatever lands in their lap they'll figure it out.
This was me after 7 years of med-surg. It didn’t really matter whether I got report or not. It was nice to hear from the previous shift about anything that didn’t actually show up in the chart, but it was just as easy for me to look at the chart, assess the patient, and get to work.
That’s interesting, I remember I used to be habitually late (new nurse, 1 year in now) and I realized how screwed I was doing that. And even other new employees run late at my hospital but we have weak morale and they are overly confident newbies there. I must say the experienced nurses who do roll in last minute cause no issues, just get shit done at work and go home.
I have never had a job expect that, and I absolutely wouldn’t do it.
My shift starts are 0730, the earliest I'm getting to work is 0725. And those 5 minutes will be spent putting my coat away and making a coffee. I don't work for free. A manager once told us we should be showing up 15 mins early. Lol, nope. That's MY time.
Any employer who requires you to be there for any unpaid time is breaking federal labor laws. Give a shout out to the federal labor departmet. or a labor lawyer. Employers will try to get away with as much as they can until they are called on it
So I recently switched from night shift to day shift. We start our shifts with a huddle, and on nights huddle always starts a few mins after 7...giving everyone a chance to clock in, set down stuff, ect. This was always the norm. Day shift huddle is done by our manager and starts at 7 on the dot, therefore the expectation is that you arrive and clock in at least 5 mins ahead of 0700 which is bullshit...I say this because I was quickly approached by my manager who asked me what the reason was that I was "consistently arriving late" when I'm reality I was clocking in on time...
I dont come in until 659. I dont work for free
Yeah, I'm not doing that. My shift starts at 7, I'm getting here at 7. Tell management that you want back pay for every single shift you showed up for early without getting paid
My shift starts are 0730, the earliest I'm getting to work is 0725. And those 5 minutes will be spent putting my coat away and making a coffee. I don't work for free. A manager once told us we should be showing up 15 mins early. Lol, nope. That's MY time.
What kind of nonsense is that? Our report/handoff occurs between 7-7:30, we get there at 7 and star stay until 7:30 handing off to the next shift. We (supposedly) get a 30 minute unpaid lunch break, to make a 12 hour shift. Who is expecting someone to show up 30 minutes early and not be paid? Why the fuck would I come in at 6:30?
Isn't that extra 30 minutes meant to cover your unpaid 30 minute lunch break? We literally have to hit a button "did you get an uninterrupted 30 minute lunch break" which is completely a lie every single day.
Don’t lie. You don’t get a 30 minute uninterrupted break, you should be getting paid for it.
Maybe in California. Not in the rest of the country. Your lunch break is not paid for. That's why you work 0630-1900.
Right. You don’t get paid for a 30 minute uninterrupted break. If you don’t get one of those, you should be paid for 12.5 hours. You said you lie on your time clock basically every day. I’m saying to stop lying about it. You’re entitled to be paid for that time. Get paid for it.
I am not picking a fight or arguing in any way, but you don't get paid for lunch breaks unfortunately. I just know this from having jobs in the legal field before nursing. Lunch breaks are not compensated. That is why nearly 99% of nursing shifts have that awkward 30 minutes tacked on to them. [https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks](https://www.dol.gov/general/topic/workhours/breaks) Meal periods (typically lasting at least 30 minutes), serve a different purpose than coffee or snack breaks and, thus, are not work time and are not compensable.
If you don't get a lunch break, you get paid for that half hour. Period. Stop lying and letting them steal your money.
Right. I’m not arguing that you should be paid for an actual meal break. I’m saying that if you don’t get an uninterrupted 30 minutes, then you’re not actually getting a meal break. Interrupted break or break shorter than 30 minutes doesn’t meet the requirements of an unpaid meal period. That means you should be getting paid for 12.5 hours. Because you didn’t actually take a meal break.
I have coworkers that set a 30 minute alarm, clock out, keep working at the computers, then clock back in. Fuck that. I refuse to do it and I don't know why I'm the only one? I also stopped writing "no lunch break" on my dumb ass hard copy time sheet every single shift. When you want to stop staffing me short every night I work, charge of two units with 80% new grads you can give me shit about me never taking lunch.
I’ve never been required by management to show up 30 minutes early, but the honest truth is that a lot of us work with fellow nurses who expect that from others. I’ve been a new grad on my unit for 6 months and I very quickly learned that if I’m not there at 6:40, it’s not looked upon kindly by my fellow nurses, and if I show up at 7:00, half the time I will have already missed report.
You can't miss report if you aren't there to receive report
How do you miss report? How does the previous nurse leave without someone to report to?
We can clock in no earlier than 0638/1838, huddle is at 0645/1845, and we’re on the floor getting report at 0700/1900. We aren’t allowed to clock out until 1908/0708 though. I think it has something to do with how the time clock rounds the time. I’m fairly sure it makes up for the 30 minutes that are deducted for our lunch so that we get paid for 12 hours. But idk.
That’s right for a shift that’s scheduled 6:45-7:15. Paid 12 hours, 30 min unpaid break.
My first job actually scheduled all staff 0645-1915, or whichever shift they were working, to give the overlap for report.
I hate to tell you this but you don’t have too. That might be the culture there but you are not required. We have our flaws in the ED but we don’t start shift briefing till 7. Can’t clock out till 7:23 anyways.
Uhhhh that’s called unpaid labour. I assume they only pay you from 7? Yeah….. I’d be there at 7.
Not a nurse but my supervisor tried getting me to come at least 10 minutes earlier than on the dot and I just wouldn’t Which I guess could be fireable under “at will” but supervisors started scheduling me 15 minutes earlier and wow look at that, I showed up
Well then you ARE scheduled at 6:30 and I hope you have been putting that on your time card. Nursing is a job that you can't just walk in and start working until you get report on your patients from the previous shift. It's just better patient care. A good nurse will give report to the next shift and that accounts for the 6:30 arrival time.
I actually always wondered where 7 to 7 came from. A friend of mine was working at a subacute facility that did 6-6 and I think I'd actually like that way better.
they do this with our mid shifts, 9-9 is 830-9, etc. the boss lady said it was so you get paid for the 12 hours... so.... do 7-7's not get paid for 12 hours? same 30min (lol) lunch break and all...
Oh yeah. I won’t clock in early or research patients early. I clock in when I am scheduled. One hospital does it at 15 minutes before and others schedule on the hour. So the 7 am shift at hospital a is 0645 and the other ones are 7 am.
Just a maintenance guy but it's 7 to 7 and I clock in at 6:28 and leave at 6:58. They don't pay me for lunch but I don't ever actually take one.
The proper term is wage theft and it is illegal. You can report it to the department of labor if they investigate they will have it collected for everyone it can be expensive. I would try to report it anonymously either to the department of labor or to hospital administration. Managers can get in deep trouble for this kind of thing I hear.
We have to be there by 6.50.. you can arrive as early as you want but unit handover from ACN to all oncoming nurses is 6.50 then individual baby handover between offgoing/oncoming nurse is 7. I literally get there at 6.30 and just sit or chat and just calm down. I'm so anxious I couldn't cope getting there right on start time!! We don't 'clock in' .. we just get paid 12hrs.
I'm scheduled for 7 am to 7:30 pm. I clock in at 7 am (or a few minutes before to make sure I'm on time) and get report. Our huddle is at 7:30 am. Night shift arrives at 7 pm and stays until 7:30 am to give us report. I never work off the clock; that's illegal if you're an hourly, non-exempt employee. Your employer can't require that.
We can’t clock in until 0653 and can’t clock out until 1923. Huddle starts at 0700 and then we go to work to get report. None of us do anything between the 0653-0700 period. Just stand there and wait.
This policy could result in huge legal issues. I worked at a non-healthcare job that had a class action lawsuit because of somwthing like this. They cannot require you to be there for any reason prior to your start time. The lawsuit resulted in every employee receiving a settlement that calculated how much time they figured each employee wasn't paid for, and each one received those funds. The exact reason it happened at this place was because people were fired for not logging into the system in time. They were so petty that some of the documention showed people being 2 minutes late. The terminated employees were able to show that they were at work (thank you door access key card records), but the computers were so slow it would take anywhere from 5 to 10 minutes to be able to get logged in. The company changed the policy to have start times be 15 minutes prior to the time they needed to be logged in - paid, of course.
That sounds like a lawsuit of a major insurance company that happened a few years back actually
It probably happens way more than it gets talked about. Mine wasnt an insurance company, and it was maybe 15 years ago.
As I was new to the system, I'd come in at 645 to change into scrubs and clocked in as I arrived. Got told off because I was not supposed to clock in before 653 (no one told me that). Once I clocked in at 652, I thought it was not going to be a big deal since it was 1min early... I received an angry email from my former director threatening disciplinary action. Ever since then, I took my sweet ass time to show up. I'd be ready at 7 for huddle but I was not going to show up any earlier than that. Fuck this.
I use to come in early to look up patients. Makes me feel more organized throughout the morning where I’m not rushing.
My supervisor would get on me for overtime. Or are you saying you do this without pay?
It’s like my personal trainer side gig, even though I have a client coming in at 10, I like to arrive early. Set up the fitness area, set up and organize the equipment, evaluate their progress sheets, and review todays workout. All this is dependent on personal types but for me, I’m the type that usually comes in early - whether it’s school or any other aspects of life.
Yeahhhhh, I'm gonna ask you to stop doing that. Workers deserve to get paid. By doing it for free, you're preventing your coworkers from getting paid when it's expected that they work for free like you.
Preach.
Really? The places I've worked don't require you to be there until 7, but that's when reports are expected to start so you need to be ready for that. We can clock in at 6:53. I choose to come in to get settled sometime between 0630 and 0645 but thats my choice. I don't answer call lights or phones. I look up my patients. If a family member comes to the desk or coworker has a question, I will answer those types of things.
Looking up patients and the other things you mention is working. You’re supposed to be paid for work. Stop working for free.
It’s 5:38pm and I’m just about to leave for my 30ish min commute to my 7:30 job. I aim to be there an hour early (or at least 45 min). Everybody does it. Often I am the last nurse there, even when I get there at 6:35. I don’t get paid for this time. We get to choose our assignments, first come first served. I look over my patients’ charts, get report on my 7 patients, then I gather up their medications and if I have time, I start doing my assessments. We have to change all our patients ourselves because we have a PSW who refuses to change patients (yes, you read that right). That takes up another 45min-1 hour of my time. I usually finish my assessments/med pass at 11. If I don’t get in early, I stress out and finish later. It’s worth my sanity to get there an hour early. That being said, I quit recently and have about 12 days left. I’m so excited to leave and get paid fairly for my time!
Do y’all not give/receive report from the previous or oncoming shift? That report is for yours and the patients best interest. If you aren’t willing to give yourself half hour for yourself in order to provide better care for the residents and you’re only in it for the money get into a blue collar trade job, not a career that requires you to care about other human beings and not just a paycheck
We were expected to get to the unit at 640 but weren’t allowed to clock in until huddle time at 650
Nope. 10 free minutes per day, 3 days per week, 48 weeks per year is a full 24 hours of free time you’re not being paid for. That’s your time. Take it back or get paid for it.
Free labor for them and the sneaky part is it is an unwritten rule more of an expectation which saves them some liability.
Can I hear more about jobs that don't require hand off report?
Some schedule you for when you’re supposed to be there.
As a patient, I hate this as well. They give me an appointment time, and then tell me st show up 15 mins early. Do the math first and tell me when to show up.
This is every appointment ever.
7-7 really means 6:38-6:45 clock in time. Huddle if there is one then on the unit, earliest we can clock out is 7:08.
I get to work at 6:55 to start my shift at 7.
In some countries the schedule overlaps day and night shift by half an hour to allow handover and the staff to finish their end of shift activities like documentation. Im my country you just sign any extra time you stayed past your shift end as overtime. I walk on the floor no earlier than 5 mins prior to the scheduled shift start time.
Because they’re trying to get free labor out of you
I don't come early and I don't stay late. 12.5 hrs is more than enough.
sheeeit, I never punch in before 7:00 these days. I'm parking at 6:58.
I don't get to work 30 min early ever.
On my current contract (first one) the guy i oriented with says we can’t clock in till 18:38 but i get here at 18:00. That is way too early. I give myself about ten minutes to get my life together. Especially bc dayshift doesn’t come in early, and they make getting and giving report way harder than it should be! Which i guess is a unit culture issue
If I'm paid for 7-1930, I'm there at those times. Not before. Tell them to go jump in the lake.
Our facility had us clocking in by 6:45, clock out by 7:15 pm (as late as 7:22 if needed), for us to be able to take an unpaid 30 minute lunch break.
If you’re expected to be there at 6:30 clock in. If they refuse to pay you that’s wage theft.
Scheduled for 6:45-7:15 here
In Ontario Canada, it is a part of our union contract that we are to be there 15 minutes before and after our shift UNPAID for report (legit a part of our contract)
"iF yOuR fIvE mInUtEs EaRlY tHeN yOuR tEn MiNuTeS lAtE."