Nurses are denied OT but then find a loophole to infuriate their micromanager: 'Don't want to pay me 7 minutes of overtime? Mmmkay, pay me an hour'

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Ben Weiss • Writer and Editor
Sep 12, 2024 2:00 PM EDT

Going out of one's way to deny healthcare workers overtime pay seems pretty outrageous, right?

Well, it seems to be happening, thanks to the operational management of this hospital, where a group of overworked nurses were expressly pressured not to clock out even a minute beyond the end of their shift. Does it matter if they need to finish processing important paperwork? No. Does it matter if they should be responsible for checking up on a few more patients before the end of the day? No. Does it matter if there's an all-hands-on-deck emergency? No. In short, it's quite clear that enforcing this "no overtime" policy could backfire in major ways should any of these common occurrences should arise.

Keep scrolling below to see how these nurses maliciously complied in order to prove their point. For more content like this, check out this story about an employee who wrote an essay to the whole staff detailing their boss's incompetence.

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  • 01
    Cheezburger Image 10402057216
    via Luis Melendez
  • 02
    Don't want to pay me 7 minutes of overtime? Mmmkay, pay me an hour. S OC
    via damishkers
  • 03
    I'm a nurse and a hospital I worked at early on paid by tenths of an hour, as most do. They were cracking down on OT. They were more than happy for us to clock out up to 7:36 (quit time was 7:30 and this meant we didn't get OT)
    via damishkers
  • 04
    but if we clocked out at 7:37 -0.1 hour late, it was a problem. The unit I was on got a new director and became More and more people quit, they couldn't replace them, we became dangerously short staffed. We never took the 2 15m breaks. Ever. We usually clocked out for a lunch,
    via damishkers
  • 05
    because you'd get in trouble if you didn't, never mind you didn't have time, but we had to clock out. About half the time we would have to work during that mandatory lunch, unpaid. What am I going to do? Sorry you're but my lunch is getting cold?
    via damishkers
  • 06
    Anyway, big OT crackdown came. Our manager told us if we had more than 1 late clock out we'd get a verbal (not really verbal bc it's documented in file), another late clock out a written.
    via damishkers
  • 07
    Then who knows. Now, I rarely clocked out late because I worked my tail off but about once every other week I may clock out 0.1-0.2h late but that's because I'd tried REALLY hard to get out on time. I didn't even want the OT,
    via damishkers
  • 08
    I wanted to go home! About everyone got a verbal within 2 weeks. She then came back and said if you clock out 0.1-0.4h late then you would get the verbal. However, if it was >0.5h late then they knew something bad
    via damishkers
  • 09
    happened and would let it go. So all of us that did our best to get out within 0.1 late on bad days? No longer. We took our sweet time and we were all clocking out 45-60 minutes late. Our documentation was never so perfect. Suddenly they dropped they dropped the whole O.
    via damishkers
  • 10
    horsewoman1 · 23 hr. ago One of the most violated labor laws is, when you are clocked out for an unpaid lunch and you even get asked anything about the job, let alone get up to do work, you must be paid for the entire break.it is a serious fine.
    via damishkers
  • 11
    JoeyJoeJoeJrShab 23 hr. ago What am I going to do? Sorry you're but my lunch is getting cold? That's simultaneously funny and incredibly depressing. Funny is the tone I assume you were writing with, and it makes me depressed that the system regularly exploits you and others in this way.
    via damishkers
  • 12
    Archangel4500000 1 day ago Ferengi rule of Acquisition #144 "There's nothing wrong with charity... as long as it winds up in your pocket."
    via damishkers
  • 13
    Grimmjow 91 23 hr. ago Uuuuh working without pay is a massive labor law violation. Talk to a lawyer and get that bag
    via damishkers
  • 14
    damishkers OP. 23 hr. ago At the time I should have but this was years ago and I was a newer nurse. I now have an amazing job, wfh with no direct patient care, salaried, and if I'm honest I am paid more than adequately for what I do. There is a reason I left that job and bedside altogether. This is not unusual.
    via damishkers
  • 15
    MomOfMoe 23 hr. ago Administrators will never learn. Don't with nurses.
    via damishkers
  • 16
    Safe_Butterscotch239. 22 hr. ago This is why people dodge customers when it's five minutes to home time.
    via damishkers
  • 17
    Squidking1000 - 21 hr. ago I've never worked medical but I've worked 'high stress" places that treated you like 'family" (i.e. expected everything for free and unearned devotion) and the trick to taking lunch in those places is clock out and physically leave. Even if it's just walk down the block you have to get out of contact range for that 30 minutes. If they are not paying you DO NOT work!
    via damishkers
  • 18
    TopClock231 20 hr. ago Always take your breaks at any job. You arent doing the company any favors, they wont remember you for doing it and if anything you become a labor board liability to them.
    via damishkers
  • 19
    bitwisewahoo 23 hr. ago • Lol yet another tale of "Manager just tells people to work without pay" That these idiot admin folks continue to try this is astounding.
    via damishkers
  • 20
    • Hour-Alive 17 hr. ago I just wanted to say thank you to all the nurses here (past, present, and future). I greatly appreciate everything you have done, currently do, and will do. I know you don't/won't hear and/or read that often. When I have been in the hospital, I try my hardest to be a good person
    via damishkers
  • 21
    and to be patient with you. I know I am not the only person you are helping and you are doing your best. I can't believe that despite everything how sweet every nurse has been. Some have come off as almost mechanical, but never mean or anything. I always chalked it up to being exhausted and going through the motions. You guys are the best.
    via damishkers

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