Overtime pay during Hurricane Irma, incorrect pay

[fenixguy]

I work in Payroll for an agency that will remain nameless. You'd be surprised how many FLSA violations we find on a daily basis. Most of them stem from supervisors not turning in employee's timesheets before the deadline, not making sure the employee has been set up with HR before allowing them to work, or flat out falsifying timesheets to reduce overtime. Of course when we catch it it's always, "oh, I had no idea! I'm so sorry. Please fix it for us. We didn't know." Meanwhile the employee is up the creek waiting on their money while others drag their feet. It makes me sick and we're the ones that catch the brunt of it. Problem is, we can only pay you for what is turned in and approved by the various supervisors/departments. The worst thing is when the employee is overpaid (sometimes through no fault of their own) and we are required to collect it. I could go on and on...

That being said, I'm sure that hospital has a whole team of lawyers that draw up their overtime policies and I would bet they're abiding by the rules. The place I work has so many different categories of employees and their respective time reporting and overtime policies it makes my head spin. There are so many loopholes for various types of workers and not many big agencies (such as hospitals) are going to willingly violate labor laws. And yeah, sometime it's more of a hassle to pursue it than it's worth.

 

[SirTanon]

In this situation, it seems to me that the best approach would be to try to engage an advocate of some sort, and have THEM contact the hospital HR staff about the pay concerns.

 

[NO2]

You should be happy that you are getting overtime pay. My wife's hospital has all of the providers on salary and they are paid the same whether they work 40 or 60 or 80 hours a week.

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
If I have this correct, OP is a third party vendor for this hospital. Why get involved in this, even in conversation? Seems very inappropriate and not something I would even be comfortable discussing.

dishdude,

Yes, I'm a 3rd party vendor that provides equipment service contracts to hospital.

I offered my

advice because I know these people in plant operations (engineering dept) and it's uncool to not compensate an employee what they should be fairly paid. Over the years you build up rapport with the people that keep the hospital running (electricity, A/C, steam, air, oxygen, vacuum, etc).

If your paycheck was not correct.... I'd also be giving you advice on how to resolve the problem.

I had a few problems during the hurricane that I needed to get plant operations involved, they asked me how I was paid for my hurricane coverage and they were very unhappy to hear about our pay structure.

 

[L_Sludger]

Originally Posted By: friendly_jacek
once my wife decided to be a whistle-blower and complained to HR about improper work situation. the short story is she lost her job and could not find a new one in the same city no matter how hard she tried (in healthcare where there was supposed to be shortage). she had to go back to school and start a brand new career. even then the only job she could find was in a different state, lots of commuting.
just saying.

Being blackballed is very real. It is an absolutely maddening situation, something that would cause me to stroke out if I permitted myself to think about it for longer than a second.

Something has to be done. There has to be accountability and transparency. The HR cat ladies need to be reined in, big league.

 

[dishdude]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
dishdude,

Yes, I'm a 3rd party vendor that provides equipment service contracts to hospital.

I offered my

advice because I know these people in plant operations (engineering dept) and it's uncool to not compensate an employee what they should be fairly paid. Over the years you build up rapport with the people that keep the hospital running (electricity, A/C, steam, air, oxygen, vacuum, etc).

If your paycheck was not correct.... I'd also be giving you advice on how to resolve the problem.

I had a few problems during the hurricane that I needed to get plant operations involved, they asked me how I was paid for my hurricane coverage and were very unhappy to hear about our pay structure.

You're getting into dangerous territory, not something I would do...but it's your career not mine.

 

[blupupher]

My Facility changed their pay policy the day before Harvey locked everyone in.

It used to be 1.5 pay if you were "forced" to stay, and then double pay when in overtime.
The new policy is regular pay for first 40 hrs worked in the week, then 1.5 over that. Nothing extra for being forced to stay at work (no, they were not physically held, but if they left, it was understood you would not need to bother coming back).

I ended up staying from Sunday @ 7am till Wednesday at 7PM (paid for all 84 hours, 44 of it overtime), then worked my regular 12 hr shifts Friday and Saturday (24 hours paid at overtime rate). I came out pretty well, but with the old policy, I would feel better compensated and appreciated.

 

[HerrStig]

Originally Posted By: bubbatime
I just received an $1850 bill from the hospital for a 43 second consultation with an ER doc, and one bag of saline solution injected into my daughters veins due to dehydration. This same doctor said nothing was wrong with my daughter who by that time had already lost 20% of her body weight and had thrown up every meal and every drink consumed for 4 days straight. I told the doc to put some fluids in her, which he reluctantly did. And what do you know, she was 100% after getting some fluids in her, able to eat and drink just fine, she just needed some fluids to jump start her recovery.

They can pay their employees during a disaster, even if it cost them some money.
You're paying for all the "free" emergency room care mandated by the Federal "Government" the budget for which has to come from somewhere.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
At a hospital I was working at during Hurricane Irma, the hourly hospital staff was paid for their overtime:
Base hourly $___ , plus $7 per hour. There was no 1.5X or 2X hourly pay when the hospital was locked down (no employees were allowed to enter or leave the hospital) from Thursday night till Monday morning.

No matter how many hours of OT these hospital employees worked, they were only paid 'Lock Down' pay. I told some employees from plant operations (engineering dept) they need to file a complaint with the Department of Labor cause they weren't paid properly...... but they are afraid to file online or call and give their name, dept, phone number, address of hospital, etc... for fear of retribution.

How do you know that they weren't paid what their contract says? If they were paid regular time plus $7/hr for OT, maybe that's what their contract says. They might not know exactly what their contract says associated with a situation like "lock down" pay.

 

[Rand]

Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
I just received an $1850 bill from the hospital for a 43 second consultation with an ER doc, and one bag of saline solution injected into my daughters veins due to dehydration. This same doctor said nothing was wrong with my daughter who by that time had already lost 20% of her body weight and had thrown up every meal and every drink consumed for 4 days straight. I told the doc to put some fluids in her, which he reluctantly did. And what do you know, she was 100% after getting some fluids in her, able to eat and drink just fine, she just needed some fluids to jump start her recovery.

They can pay their employees during a disaster, even if it cost them some money.
You're paying for all the "free" emergency room care mandated by the Federal "Government" the budget for which has to come from somewhere.


I had a $6850 bill for waiting in the ER for 30min then 5min for them to loosen the splint on my shattered arm/wrist that was too tight after it continued swelling.

No one could answer if it was ok for me to just loosen and rewrap.

I had to get "checked out".

And we wont go into out of area anesthesiologist.. who wasnt covered by my insurance..

I checked the dr(s),surgeon, hospital etc all covered by my insurance.. except the anesthesiologist who was from "anesthesiologists of Cincinnati" (250miles away)
what a crock.. not as bad as $7000 bill for waiting 30min.. with 5min consult.. but hey.

 

[stockrex]

Originally Posted By: HerrStig
Originally Posted By: bubbatime
I just received an $1850 bill from the hospital for a 43 second consultation with an ER doc, and one bag of saline solution injected into my daughters veins due to dehydration. This same doctor said nothing was wrong with my daughter who by that time had already lost 20% of her body weight and had thrown up every meal and every drink consumed for 4 days straight. I told the doc to put some fluids in her, which he reluctantly did. And what do you know, she was 100% after getting some fluids in her, able to eat and drink just fine, she just needed some fluids to jump start her recovery.

They can pay their employees during a disaster, even if it cost them some money.
You're paying for all the "free" emergency room care mandated by the Federal "Government" the budget for which has to come from somewhere.


No Sir, we, tax payers, are paying for all the free Emergency visits. Most hospitals turn around and get the state to pay for it.

 

[Leo99]

I recommend you visit an urgent care facility instead of an emergency room if it's not a really bad emergency. Only been to two of them so my sample size is very small but had excellent experiences. They really seemed to understand how to provide a positive medical experience.

 

[Linctex]

Originally Posted By: dishdude
If I have this correct, OP is a third party vendor for this hospital. Why get involved in this, even in conversation? Seems very inappropriate and not something I would even be comfortable discussing.


Is this what these once bold people in this country have come to?
Go crawl 7 hide under a rock and pretend you don't see any wrongdoing?

Everyone is in fear of our jobs -

What happened to us.....

 

[Mr Nice]

Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: dishdude
If I have this correct, OP is a third party vendor for this hospital. Why get involved in this, even in conversation? Seems very inappropriate and not something I would even be comfortable discussing.


Is this what these once bold people in this country have come to?
Go crawl 7 hide under a rock and pretend you don't see any wrongdoing?

Everyone is in fear of our jobs -
dWhat happened to us.....


I agree with not hiding under rock.

I found out more info.
$7 was for employees with non patient bedside care such as:
Plant operations , dietary, environmental / housekeeping, transporters, office staff, security, sterile processing, pharmacy, laboratory staff, etc...

$10 was for nurses, respiratory / radiology techs, patient care assistants, physical therapists, etc... who had direct contact with patients.

Still seems underpaid for staying at work for 4 days.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice

I found out more info.
$7 was for employees with non patient bedside care such as:
Plant operations , dietary, environmental / housekeeping, transporters, office staff, security, sterile processing, pharmacy, laboratory staff, etc...

$10 was for nurses, respiratory / radiology techs, patient care assistants, physical therapists, etc... who had direct contact with patients.

Still seems underpaid for staying at work for 4 days.


I figured there was more to the story than the initial description.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: motor_oil_madman
Well I think if they have a contract and that's what it says in the contract during an emergency, I don't see a problem.


Labor contracts cannot override Federal labor laws.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: Leo99
I recommend you visit an urgent care facility instead of an emergency room if it's not a really bad emergency. Only been to two of them so my sample size is very small but had excellent experiences. They really seemed to understand how to provide a positive medical experience.


Agreed, though the hours are generally limited. (The one near me is closed Sundays.) My nephew went to one when he gashed his leg hiking...in and out (with a shot of local anasthetic, a thoroughly-washed leg, nine sutures, a very-impressive bandage, and instructions to reconsider hiking in shorts) in about an hour and a half.

My sister didn't realize until they were leaving that she never actually saw a doctor...everything was done by a nurse practitioner.

 

[Jarlaxle]

Originally Posted By: Mr Nice
Originally Posted By: Linctex
Originally Posted By: dishdude
If I have this correct, OP is a third party vendor for this hospital. Why get involved in this, even in conversation? Seems very inappropriate and not something I would even be comfortable discussing.


Is this what these once bold people in this country have come to?
Go crawl 7 hide under a rock and pretend you don't see any wrongdoing?

Everyone is in fear of our jobs -
dWhat happened to us.....


I agree with not hiding under rock.

I found out more info.
$7 was for employees with non patient bedside care such as:
Plant operations , dietary, environmental / housekeeping, transporters, office staff, security, sterile processing, pharmacy, laboratory staff, etc...

$10 was for nurses, respiratory / radiology techs, patient care assistants, physical therapists, etc... who had direct contact with patients.

Still seems underpaid for staying at work for 4 days.


It depends what, exactly, their usual pay is. If someone makes $14/hour (not unreasonable for security, housekeeping, etc.), an additional $7/hour IS time and a half, albeit figured in an unnecessarily-confusing way.

 

[Anduril]

Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
How do you know that they weren't paid what their contract says? If they were paid regular time plus $7/hr for OT, maybe that's what their contract says. They might not know exactly what their contract says associated with a situation like "lock down" pay.

Unless they are salary, a contract cannot violate federal overtime law.

 

[ZeeOSix]

Originally Posted By: Anduril
Originally Posted By: ZeeOSix
How do you know that they weren't paid what their contract says? If they were paid regular time plus $7/hr for OT, maybe that's what their contract says. They might not know exactly what their contract says associated with a situation like "lock down" pay.

Unless they are salary, a contract cannot violate federal overtime law.


I think there are a lot of "it depends" in that matter (see link below). My contract did not pay me 1.5 and 2.0 pay for overtime - it was regular time plus a fixed amount which was far from 1.5 pay. And I know for a fact this super large company was not violating Federal Law on OT pay ... there's no way they could and get away with it, too many people monitoring them daily on their operations.

Question is ... what are the rules that make you exempt from the Federal Law on OT? I was definitely exempt from 1.5 and 2.0 OT pay, while others in the company did get 1.5 and 2.0 OT pay.

https://www.dol.gov/whd/overtime_pay.htm

"The federal overtime provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Unless exempt, employees covered by the Act must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay."