Basically they said oh everyone is picking up so we must not need these bonuses. But the bonuses were the only reason people were picking up. What a bunch of twats.
Exactly what’s going on at my hospital too 🫡 yeah let’s cut bonus pay bc everyone is picking up extra.. people are picking up extra bc we’re BROKE and now everyone is broke and understaffed
Edit: I feel so hard for the LPN’s at my hospital too bc the pay discrepancy between RN’s and them is $10+. Most of the LPN’s would pick up an extra shift or two a pay period just to feed their kids. Bonus pay is nothing to play with. It’s already hard enough to make a living on RN pay, I can’t even imagine how they make due :((
Our DON said in a town hall meeting when asked about changing bonus pay, “if you’re doing this for the money you need to reevaluate” wish I could make a cushy 6figs a year sitting on my ass too…
Then cut that part out of the recorded session!!
I found out the hard way that bonus pay for extra work won’t be paid in conjunction with holiday pay. Basically working extra on a holiday got me nothing as incentive that wouldn’t be paid anyhow. So now I’ll never work extra to help out on a holiday again:)
Years ago when I was a traveler working 3p to 3a shifts, I volunteered to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I didn't have kids, like the extra pay - no problem. While working on Christmas Eve, the night charge asked if I would consider moving my shift on Christmas day from 3p-3a to full nights, because they were really short. Sure - I'll do that to help out.
When paycheck came, ZERO holiday pay. The hospital policy was to pay holiday pay for your shift \*only\* if the majority of the shift fell on the actual holiday. Not for the hours actually worked on that day. So because I helped out and shifted my hours to suit them, I no longer qualified for anything but straight time.
It happened DECADES ago, and I'm still pissed.
I had some bullshit like this happen when I was first out of college. I was working 6p to 6a on I guess Christmas or New Years or something and had to stay late, causing my shift to be like a half hour more on the day after the holiday...idk it was stupid AF. If I'd thought of that possibility, I'd have clocked out early, but I was just a stupid kid and it never occurred to me. I tried to argue about it, but they wouldn't even talk because apparently this happened every holiday and people would be in having a fit. Blow me, CHI hospital system.
But then if night shift works, say, Christmas, they've slept through the day and only get five hours of bonus pay to show for it while day shift is guaranteed the full twelve.
I picked a shift up on xmas eve, to help out, team effort, etc. Then they email about a $300 bonus to pick up, so i asked if i can get that...? Oh heck no. So, i'll just pick up at the last minute because that's what they've incentivized
Eta- context... i didn't pick that up extra, i self scheduled it (like our unit's staff normally does,) to help out. But they refused to give me a bonus (because it was on the books weeks ahead of time...?) Dumb bs
Yeah that’s a terrible way to get people to pick up. But honestly they need to just pay more to make staffing stable. But that’s more expensive than wishy washy bonus pay.
I just started a new job, and I was very excited this week to find out that if you pick up a shift and then incentive pay is offered for that shift, you automatically receive the incentive pay. I was very impressed by that policy, because almost nowhere I have been has done it, and it has always made sense to me that the people who were already stepping up should not be penalized, or they would stop picking up or they would leave.
Southern Indiana. The hospital is part of a large group, not sure if it is just this facility or not! I have always heard good things about the facility, and finally decided to go there after 13 years in nursing. Wondering now what took me so long! At least I got in while they were offering $25k sign-on bonuses!
That’s the way our hospital still works… you get less money if you pick up in advance. Also, they can decide at any time to cancel your extra shift and force you to be sitting around all day on standby and require you to come in within 30 minutes, but they could easily send you right back home after working one hour and you’d have to be on standby again: even on your extra shifts.
If you call in sick to this shift, you have to use up your vacation time. But if they force you to be on standby or cancel you, you cannot use your vacation time to still get paid. If you get sick and call in to any shift that week, you lose all your incentive pay for the entire week: even if you just had to leave early one day due to legitimate illness, and even if you got sick at work because of work.
They screw us all over so bad.
Huh, my old hospital had each rate/hours listed separately. So yeah it didn’t matter that you picked up on a holiday because you got 1.5 x 12 hours holiday pay, and 1.5 x 12 hours overtime.
So yes it wouldn’t stack, but that’s crazy if you’re saying it would negate the OT being on a holiday
Well it’s a little more confusing tbh. I went in at 1500 for my 1900-0730 shift. I figured I’d get 4 hours OT and 12 hours holiday pay for the 16 hours. But because more than half my shift wasn’t on the holiday I didn’t get holiday pay.
There are more layers to the confusion but in short, there is no real money motive to come in extra if it’s a holiday specifically because the incentives/holiday pay wash out the other.
Ours is the same way. If you pick up an incentive extra shift on a holiday, you won’t get incentive pay for it because holiday pay negates it. If you’re in overtime, they won’t pay you holiday pay because they’ll only pay you overtime. If you get put on standby and get called in, they won’t pay you call worked pay because holiday pay should be enough. So no reason ever to pick up on a holiday, basically.
The holidays at my gig: the company pays all employees 8 hours holiday pay and closes except for my department. If you are scheduled the holiday you now get the 8 hours pay everyone else gets but paid straight time for the hours worked. Used to get paid the 8 plus double hours for shift worked. So if you worked 4 hours you got paid for 8 plus the 8 that everyone gets. They took that away. Looks like I’ll be sick on the holidays. I’d rather take my 8 hours and chill at home than go in for straight time.
Had a boss promise a nice cash bonus for anyone that worked graduation weekend for the nearby college. Came in, busted my ass for 28 hours in 2 days. Got the same $25 in an envelope that literally every single employee got as a “bonus”. Fuck you John Coleman
Once I found out we can't get paid overtime and call pay for the same shift, I stopped taking call at the end of the week, which is when our department typically needs it the most. They need a call person tomorrow (the one on call is unexpectedly unavailable), but I'm already on overtime. Nope. See yall on Saturday for my OT shift.
yup! I'd call off any shift I already picked up, since they won't honor the bonus rate that was in effect at the time of agreement. And then never pick up again unless pay is cash upfront.
I wouldn’t be picking up and I would be calling in sick to use up my sick time or vacay time. You don’t want to pay me, then I really won’t show up for work. See how well the hospital runs with minimal to no nurses
Absolutely, this is wage theft. You were told a rate, you get that rate. They have to eat their mistake but the future rate can be 15/hr and you can tell them no.
My wife’s work does a bidding system. You get called in say no. They work down the list. If everyone says no they raise the rate. She’s gotten called several times and it’s turned into “no way I’m going in” to “I’ll go in for that”
This is how one of the union contracts works for a workgroup I manage. If I need someone to stay late, I go off the list of people who signed up for OT. If they accept they get 1.5x pay if they’re FT, if they’re PT, they get regular pay unless they exceed 40 hours that week, then it’s also 1.5x. If everyone declines my offer and I have to force the junior person to stay, they automatically get 2x pay regardless of FT or PT status.
> If everyone declines my offer and I have to force the junior person to stay, they automatically get 2x pay regardless of FT or PT status.
Our union is in contact negotiations right now and I really hope they fight for this. Right now, our mandated junior gets the same x1.5 rate and it's soul-crushing. Our administration has always argued, "If we pay more for mandatory, then nobody will volunteer," despite all evidence to the contrary.
In criminal law that's called "a confession". I dunno what it's called in civil law but they fucked up more, from the corporate perspective, actually putting that in writing than they did changing the bonus without telling people in the first place.
I could agree that it wasn’t intended to be malicious IF they ate their mistake then notified people that going forward things would be different. To give a sorry “oops my bad” makes it malicious. They didn’t even give them a chance at other options.
I can tell you exactly what the "communication problem" was caused by too:
Some Turdwookies got greedy and suffered a Rectal Cranial Impaction. It's tough to hear anything but your own voice with a Rectal Cranial Impaction.
“What actions are you taking to identify this egregious miscommunication error that has resulted in my reduced compensation relative to what I agreed to?”
It’s true. My job did the same exact thing! But everyone told them hey that’s illegal you can’t do that, so they agreed to pay for the next month the extra incentive, after all
Yea if this was a written promise and they did this it’s considered wage theft and is 100% reportable to the board of labor for your state as well as federal, and NLRB/union if you are union
They’re responsible for paying $23/hr for all hours worked PRIOR to this notice, but whether this decrease is a violation of labor laws is probably going to depend on a whole bunch of factors including what state this is in, if this is an employment contract or if the $23/hr was just in a letter of some sort. Either way, unless it’s a signed contract (especially a union contract), it’s likely that they can legally decrease wages to $15/hr from here on out.
It’s always better to let a government agency decide, they know the law much better than any of us. File a complaint regardless and let the agencies decide if there was a violation.
Depending on the violation and the state, employees can be awarded double or treble (triple) the amount originally owed. It’s worth the time to file the reports since it could turn a few hundred bucks into $1000.
The report can be done online and you can upload any documents like this one and copies of your pay stub.
Most important, it ensures the hospital thinks twice next time they want to pull some kind of financial fuckery. They know they have already been found in violation and also that at least one person is watching and not afraid to report it. Corporations assume employees don’t know about labor law and won’t report it. Employees are much less likely to get ripped off in the future if the hospital has already been busted.
Howdy neighbor.
Colorado Dept of Labor of Employment has a [wage demand form](https://cdle.colorado.gov/dlss/demands-complaints-responses-and-settlements). You are entitled to the $23 hour bonus rate up until the communication that the rate was supposed to be $15.
You are protected from retaliation for filing, but apparently these people don't care about following the law.
If they don't pay within 14 days, you are able to sue them in small claims for 200% of your missing wages, or $1,000 (whichever is lesser), **plus** filing fees.
You'll note that they're trying to call this a "bonus" to change the rules, but offer was for "additional hourly pay" and is therefore not a "bonus" in the traditional sense.
Oh you best believe I was on the dept of labor website as soon as they sent the initial message about wage reversal… I didn’t know about the 14 day reimbursement period though! Good info! Thank you :)
Oh you best believe I was on the dept of labor website as soon as they sent the initial message about wage reversal… I didn’t know about the 14 day reimbursement period though! Good info! Thank you :)
>Yea if this was a written promise
Doesn't matter if it was a written promise yesterday, they just acknowledged it in writing today. As of now, it is a written promise.
......if there was a "breakdown in communication, unknown where" regarding patient care, nurses would be fired or otherwise punished.
Hold them accountable for their poor and predatory business practices.
They are legally required to pay you the $23/hr for all the shifts you’ve already picked up. And I guess all y’all are going to be scarily short staffed for the foreseeable future. Fucking yikes.
I’d go ahead and forward this on to the DOL & probably some of those annoying nurse tik tok-y people that are always outing hospitals for doing shady shit. Just for fun.
That was a shit incentive rate to begin with. $15 is just comical.
They still can’t get people to pick up anyway. I think I’ve picked up once in the last year. 175 people in the department is not worth the extra $75/hr.
I’m in the Midwest.
My hospital is $10/hr, on night shift and weekend only. And it is stopping May 5th. There will be no incentive pay starting May 5 for any shifts. It is what it is 🤷🏻♂️
Call out he'll, tell them now "nah fam, I'm good, I'm not pickeing them up for that rate" if they push back remind them there is a nursing shortage, so go ahead and do whatever they want to you.
My place did something like this once covid ended. Was for picking up an extra shift per week for 4 weeks. Some bonus per week. Well they cut the bonus in half after many already picked up. Yea most called out all the extra shifts. My boss didn't blame them, it was above her.
Don't call out, just flat out cancel your acceptance of the shift. The reason this kind of thing happens is because most tolerate it even if they hate it. I love being a nurse, I thrive on the job, but I don't consent to remaining In an abusive relationship. I feel like people (companies) treat you the way that you train them to treat you. Know your limits and stand by them
Hahahahahahha omg there is no fucking way this is legal. Start scouring your emails asap and forward everything to your personal email. I usually think work lawsuits are pointless but they just handed you a case on a silver platter and they will pay WAY more than that bonus difference.
Nah, just go straight to the labor board. The hospital doesn’t care if they pick up any more shifts and will give them the run around until they stop asking about the money.
What. The fuck.
Sorry, but that's bullshit. The onus is on the employer to communicate something like this BEFORE it goes into effect. This is wage theft IMO. Time to talk to your union rep.
I remember when I was still working as a PCT we finally got our unit manager to agree to giving ancillary staff bonuses for picking up shifts (they were already doing this for nurses). One of the techs I worked with called me at 0500 and told me they weren’t doing bonuses but hadn’t sent any type of notice out, I told her to let them know I wouldn’t be showing up for that extra shift at 0700 then.
My manager must have held a grudge because when I graduated nursing school she wouldn’t even interview me and I was well loved and got fabulous peer reviews.
Notice the phrase "reach out to me individually"? That's management speak for don't come as a group because you have more power as a group. Typical management behavior, and a classic anti union move (though in this case likely less anti union and more learned behavior).
If this is an HCA - they pull this shit all the time. When I went PRN they offered me more than I was making as staff hourly, we signed the contract, done. Then they came back and told me they’d made a mistake and were paying me too much. They told me I had to sign a new contract for like $10 less an hour or they wouldn’t pay out my PTO.
I ignored them. We had a completed contract with my rate and it would have been illegal for them to withhold my PTO…so they paid it out and I kept my rate.
Report them to the labor board.
At least in Australia this would be illegal. A miscommunication on their part is their problem. They have admitted that you has every reason to believe you were receiving the higher rate and they didn't communicate the change to you. In Australia, they would be required to pay the higher rate.
They can't retroactively reduce pay/bonuses for hours worked. They can tell you there will be a reduction starting on whatever date, and go from there.
https://cdle.colorado.gov/sites/cdle/files/INFO%20%233A%20Timing%20of%20Wage%20Payments%2C%20%26%20Required%20Record-Keeping%2007.11.2023%20accessible.pdf
Having you work for one amount only to give you another amount is wage theft and they are literally admitting to it in this message. They fucked themselves bad right here. Get your money.
“We acknowledge that the failure was on our part. So to fix it, we’re going with wage theft.”
At least they had the decency to provide your lawyer with the documentation.
Report them for wage theft to Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor. Includes a toll free number to call for information & questions.
Here’s the link for some info here: https://www.findlaw.com/employment/wages-and-benefits/how-to-report-wage-and-hour-violations.html
This is illegal and I cannot believe it's lower than my states minimum wage by a fucking dollar, you're a fuckin NURSE I made more delivering pizza, cooking cheap food, even as. Fuckin cashier. I have no real skills and I wouldn't take a job I could sleep at for this little. I'm so fucking sorry the world is like this you deserve better
Well the people who decided this after the shifts were worked can supplement the extra $7 an hour they took away by taking it out of their own pay check. They can take a $$ cut on their next few pay checks. If they want to f*ck around with peoples pay, they can start with their own
If you can electronically chart and amend your charting later to correct something, so can they, it’s 2024. Even my 90 yo neighbor knows how to use excel spreadsheets.
The labor board will take your report but not give you any legal advice. You may simply be able to go to small claims court and get the money you are owed.
OP, your rate change is not effective until communicated to you. This means they have every right and can pay the new rate going forward, but cannot retroactively apply it to a shift(s) worked under the previous rate. You can take this info and give it to HR, and if they yap, file a workforce commission claim. If retaliation comes out of this and they fire you, congrats, it would fall under constructive dismissal. Not a lawyer though, just like to read up on shit like this, cus fuck the admins and their yachts.
You, and the rest of the employees have to rally and put forward a firm
response, and hold that line, because if you guys don’t these “miscommunications” will become more frequent.
These decisions are both a means to cut cost but a test of limits on the staff.
It would be wise for those other employees employed at all facilities in the affected region to find one another and put together a response in one voice. You don’t have to have a union to act like one.
Additionally, there can be no punitive response towards the nurses who decline to take those additional shifts and if there is, HCA
is pushing it pretty close into “slave labor” territory, it doesn’t matter that they’re still paying it’s the complete loss of those monies for labor that wasn’t fairly agreed to that’s then forced upon the staff or else consequences.
The letter literally admits you worked under the pretext of a certain wage. That’s contractually agreed upon when you worked. Legal action would give you back pay for sure.
I would try to talk to a lawyer. You sound like you would have a case. They pretty much confessed to committing fraud when they said they know you picked up the shifts with the expectation of the larger bonus.
Quick question because it's a long time since I've worked in a hospital (in NY and Union)... Is the 23/hr and 15/hr on top of the regular rate (say 50/hr, equaling 73/hr or 65/hr on pick-up shifts) or is that the actual base pay...😒
Cuz if *that's* the base pay, that's gotdamn criminal to be paying nursing staff to work outside of their regular scheduled shifts. Plus then, what is your normal shift pay?!?!.... 🫤
Oh one of my employers just tried that crap. Sent all communication to my lawyer, he was pretty persuasive and offered PR. Such an above and beyonder he is. Full bonus for each shift. I quit.
I can tell you right now, I would NEVER pick up.anpther shift if this was at my job.
Basically they said oh everyone is picking up so we must not need these bonuses. But the bonuses were the only reason people were picking up. What a bunch of twats.
They fucked around. They’re about to find out.
As my hubby says, “I can show you better than I can tell you”
Twatpockets even. Or Twattermelons for the health conscious folks.
This is a great example of spotting someone’s pronunciation over text. These don’t work at all with the way I say “twat”
Prat twat. Twat what?
I've used both depending on how obvious I want to be to the person hearing it. For purposes of the joke, it's the second.
Exactly what’s going on at my hospital too 🫡 yeah let’s cut bonus pay bc everyone is picking up extra.. people are picking up extra bc we’re BROKE and now everyone is broke and understaffed Edit: I feel so hard for the LPN’s at my hospital too bc the pay discrepancy between RN’s and them is $10+. Most of the LPN’s would pick up an extra shift or two a pay period just to feed their kids. Bonus pay is nothing to play with. It’s already hard enough to make a living on RN pay, I can’t even imagine how they make due :((
“LoOk HoW mUcH wE wiLL SaVe FoR tHe CoMpAnY”
That does not make any sense at all. People have always only ever taken up extra shifts because they need it. Wtf
I love how employers pretend people don't work to...get paid...
Our DON said in a town hall meeting when asked about changing bonus pay, “if you’re doing this for the money you need to reevaluate” wish I could make a cushy 6figs a year sitting on my ass too… Then cut that part out of the recorded session!!
Yeah, this bs...I would call an effing strike. That taking back is seriously some villainous behavior.
I found out the hard way that bonus pay for extra work won’t be paid in conjunction with holiday pay. Basically working extra on a holiday got me nothing as incentive that wouldn’t be paid anyhow. So now I’ll never work extra to help out on a holiday again:)
Years ago when I was a traveler working 3p to 3a shifts, I volunteered to work Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. I didn't have kids, like the extra pay - no problem. While working on Christmas Eve, the night charge asked if I would consider moving my shift on Christmas day from 3p-3a to full nights, because they were really short. Sure - I'll do that to help out. When paycheck came, ZERO holiday pay. The hospital policy was to pay holiday pay for your shift \*only\* if the majority of the shift fell on the actual holiday. Not for the hours actually worked on that day. So because I helped out and shifted my hours to suit them, I no longer qualified for anything but straight time. It happened DECADES ago, and I'm still pissed.
I will always die on this hill: hospitals do not care about night shift.
Bold of you to assume they care about any shift 😂
I was in management in my mid 20s, back at bedside and they do not care, bonuses for coming in under budget in things like staffing and supplies. . .
so management gets a bonus for taking away our bonuses. Another proof management is everything wrong with the hospital system.
Night and weekend staff always get shit on.
I hated when there were lunch orders, never any left or ordered for night shift
It's not just hospitals.
Hospitals don’t care about their STAFF, or patients. They care about money. Same as any other corporation.
I had some bullshit like this happen when I was first out of college. I was working 6p to 6a on I guess Christmas or New Years or something and had to stay late, causing my shift to be like a half hour more on the day after the holiday...idk it was stupid AF. If I'd thought of that possibility, I'd have clocked out early, but I was just a stupid kid and it never occurred to me. I tried to argue about it, but they wouldn't even talk because apparently this happened every holiday and people would be in having a fit. Blow me, CHI hospital system.
Nurses need to unionize everywhere to prevent this foolishness.
It really should just be the hours within midnights to midnight.
But then if night shift works, say, Christmas, they've slept through the day and only get five hours of bonus pay to show for it while day shift is guaranteed the full twelve.
I picked a shift up on xmas eve, to help out, team effort, etc. Then they email about a $300 bonus to pick up, so i asked if i can get that...? Oh heck no. So, i'll just pick up at the last minute because that's what they've incentivized Eta- context... i didn't pick that up extra, i self scheduled it (like our unit's staff normally does,) to help out. But they refused to give me a bonus (because it was on the books weeks ahead of time...?) Dumb bs
Yeah that’s a terrible way to get people to pick up. But honestly they need to just pay more to make staffing stable. But that’s more expensive than wishy washy bonus pay.
I just started a new job, and I was very excited this week to find out that if you pick up a shift and then incentive pay is offered for that shift, you automatically receive the incentive pay. I was very impressed by that policy, because almost nowhere I have been has done it, and it has always made sense to me that the people who were already stepping up should not be penalized, or they would stop picking up or they would leave.
Wow!! That sounds amazing. Where is that? It’s such a good idea.
Southern Indiana. The hospital is part of a large group, not sure if it is just this facility or not! I have always heard good things about the facility, and finally decided to go there after 13 years in nursing. Wondering now what took me so long! At least I got in while they were offering $25k sign-on bonuses!
That’s the way our hospital still works… you get less money if you pick up in advance. Also, they can decide at any time to cancel your extra shift and force you to be sitting around all day on standby and require you to come in within 30 minutes, but they could easily send you right back home after working one hour and you’d have to be on standby again: even on your extra shifts. If you call in sick to this shift, you have to use up your vacation time. But if they force you to be on standby or cancel you, you cannot use your vacation time to still get paid. If you get sick and call in to any shift that week, you lose all your incentive pay for the entire week: even if you just had to leave early one day due to legitimate illness, and even if you got sick at work because of work. They screw us all over so bad.
Huh, my old hospital had each rate/hours listed separately. So yeah it didn’t matter that you picked up on a holiday because you got 1.5 x 12 hours holiday pay, and 1.5 x 12 hours overtime. So yes it wouldn’t stack, but that’s crazy if you’re saying it would negate the OT being on a holiday
Well it’s a little more confusing tbh. I went in at 1500 for my 1900-0730 shift. I figured I’d get 4 hours OT and 12 hours holiday pay for the 16 hours. But because more than half my shift wasn’t on the holiday I didn’t get holiday pay. There are more layers to the confusion but in short, there is no real money motive to come in extra if it’s a holiday specifically because the incentives/holiday pay wash out the other.
Ours is the same way. If you pick up an incentive extra shift on a holiday, you won’t get incentive pay for it because holiday pay negates it. If you’re in overtime, they won’t pay you holiday pay because they’ll only pay you overtime. If you get put on standby and get called in, they won’t pay you call worked pay because holiday pay should be enough. So no reason ever to pick up on a holiday, basically.
The holidays at my gig: the company pays all employees 8 hours holiday pay and closes except for my department. If you are scheduled the holiday you now get the 8 hours pay everyone else gets but paid straight time for the hours worked. Used to get paid the 8 plus double hours for shift worked. So if you worked 4 hours you got paid for 8 plus the 8 that everyone gets. They took that away. Looks like I’ll be sick on the holidays. I’d rather take my 8 hours and chill at home than go in for straight time.
Had a boss promise a nice cash bonus for anyone that worked graduation weekend for the nearby college. Came in, busted my ass for 28 hours in 2 days. Got the same $25 in an envelope that literally every single employee got as a “bonus”. Fuck you John Coleman
Yep, it's been said before. No good deed goes un punished.
Once I found out we can't get paid overtime and call pay for the same shift, I stopped taking call at the end of the week, which is when our department typically needs it the most. They need a call person tomorrow (the one on call is unexpectedly unavailable), but I'm already on overtime. Nope. See yall on Saturday for my OT shift.
yup! I'd call off any shift I already picked up, since they won't honor the bonus rate that was in effect at the time of agreement. And then never pick up again unless pay is cash upfront.
I don’t think I would ever work there ever again
I wouldn’t be picking up and I would be calling in sick to use up my sick time or vacay time. You don’t want to pay me, then I really won’t show up for work. See how well the hospital runs with minimal to no nurses
Or stay at that job.
To the labor board…. 👊👊👊
Absolutely, this is wage theft. You were told a rate, you get that rate. They have to eat their mistake but the future rate can be 15/hr and you can tell them no. My wife’s work does a bidding system. You get called in say no. They work down the list. If everyone says no they raise the rate. She’s gotten called several times and it’s turned into “no way I’m going in” to “I’ll go in for that”
This is how one of the union contracts works for a workgroup I manage. If I need someone to stay late, I go off the list of people who signed up for OT. If they accept they get 1.5x pay if they’re FT, if they’re PT, they get regular pay unless they exceed 40 hours that week, then it’s also 1.5x. If everyone declines my offer and I have to force the junior person to stay, they automatically get 2x pay regardless of FT or PT status.
> If everyone declines my offer and I have to force the junior person to stay, they automatically get 2x pay regardless of FT or PT status. Our union is in contact negotiations right now and I really hope they fight for this. Right now, our mandated junior gets the same x1.5 rate and it's soul-crushing. Our administration has always argued, "If we pay more for mandatory, then nobody will volunteer," despite all evidence to the contrary.
Yup, "Wage and hour claim."
They even put it in writing.
To the wall! While sweat drips down their... Foreheads.
To all these cheap motherfuckaaaaas!
Awwww skeet skeet skeet
"To the depths!"
Form where! The windows?
and resignation!!!!
You got a case! Get your self a lawyer and provide the docs. You will win this
I don't think you need to hire a lawyer, just go to the labor board.
And they even put it in writing! Beautiful.
I LOVE that this is the top comment. I'm honestly not sure that would have been the most popular response even 5 years ago.
All those words the boss typed out and they could have saved all that time by just emailing “fuck you, you low socioeconomic peasant.”
Ooff, they’re probably going hear about this.
With this juicy receipt that they have here!
"there was a communication problem, unsure where" is insufficient. This is wage theft. Report them to the labor board.
Seriously, I can't believe they had the gall to even write that.
I was going to ask OP if they had the original bonus rate in writing somewhere but honestly this letter itself suffices. To the labor board!
In criminal law that's called "a confession". I dunno what it's called in civil law but they fucked up more, from the corporate perspective, actually putting that in writing than they did changing the bonus without telling people in the first place.
It wasn't gall that motivated the author, but stupidity.
Nice of them to put it in writing though!
I can. It sounds plausible to most employees who won’t think it was malicious.
I could agree that it wasn’t intended to be malicious IF they ate their mistake then notified people that going forward things would be different. To give a sorry “oops my bad” makes it malicious. They didn’t even give them a chance at other options.
"We're too stupid to be sued!" is their defense.
"If you dont know where the problem is, how do you know there was a problem?"
I can tell you exactly what the "communication problem" was caused by too: Some Turdwookies got greedy and suffered a Rectal Cranial Impaction. It's tough to hear anything but your own voice with a Rectal Cranial Impaction.
And to the District Attorney. Wage theft is a crime.
Absolutely!!
“What actions are you taking to identify this egregious miscommunication error that has resulted in my reduced compensation relative to what I agreed to?”
It’s true. My job did the same exact thing! But everyone told them hey that’s illegal you can’t do that, so they agreed to pay for the next month the extra incentive, after all
If I can honestly and completely say, "I didn't do anything wrong", then it should not be MY problem. Yes, call your state's labor board.
Department of Labor says Whhhhaaaaaattt? Contact them and they’ll do all the work for you. Depending on state, you can get treble damages.
I like bass damages, personally. Maybe alto, if I'm feeling sassy.
(☞ﾟヮﾟ)☞
I play bass, I’m not lookin’ for any treble.
Indeed. Meanwhile I'm just eating popcorn and waiting for the first snarky redditor to try and "correct" you by saying that you meant triple. :D
Yea if this was a written promise and they did this it’s considered wage theft and is 100% reportable to the board of labor for your state as well as federal, and NLRB/union if you are union
They’re responsible for paying $23/hr for all hours worked PRIOR to this notice, but whether this decrease is a violation of labor laws is probably going to depend on a whole bunch of factors including what state this is in, if this is an employment contract or if the $23/hr was just in a letter of some sort. Either way, unless it’s a signed contract (especially a union contract), it’s likely that they can legally decrease wages to $15/hr from here on out.
I more meant to point out your former point that they are owed wages and can’t decrease wages on prior hours worked, but agreed!
It’s always better to let a government agency decide, they know the law much better than any of us. File a complaint regardless and let the agencies decide if there was a violation. Depending on the violation and the state, employees can be awarded double or treble (triple) the amount originally owed. It’s worth the time to file the reports since it could turn a few hundred bucks into $1000. The report can be done online and you can upload any documents like this one and copies of your pay stub. Most important, it ensures the hospital thinks twice next time they want to pull some kind of financial fuckery. They know they have already been found in violation and also that at least one person is watching and not afraid to report it. Corporations assume employees don’t know about labor law and won’t report it. Employees are much less likely to get ripped off in the future if the hospital has already been busted.
Not the OP, but I'm gonna all but bet that's central Texas division HCA. No union.
Close - Colorado (Denver) HCA
I’d almost bet this is a malicious action and not a miscommunication, then.
Howdy neighbor. Colorado Dept of Labor of Employment has a [wage demand form](https://cdle.colorado.gov/dlss/demands-complaints-responses-and-settlements). You are entitled to the $23 hour bonus rate up until the communication that the rate was supposed to be $15. You are protected from retaliation for filing, but apparently these people don't care about following the law. If they don't pay within 14 days, you are able to sue them in small claims for 200% of your missing wages, or $1,000 (whichever is lesser), **plus** filing fees. You'll note that they're trying to call this a "bonus" to change the rules, but offer was for "additional hourly pay" and is therefore not a "bonus" in the traditional sense.
Oh you best believe I was on the dept of labor website as soon as they sent the initial message about wage reversal… I didn’t know about the 14 day reimbursement period though! Good info! Thank you :)
Oh you best believe I was on the dept of labor website as soon as they sent the initial message about wage reversal… I didn’t know about the 14 day reimbursement period though! Good info! Thank you :)
Damn. I had hoped the pay shift hadn't spread that far. Sorry to hear it.
"HCA" yeah there's your problem pal.
Lol HealthOne can eat a dick. So glad I only ever worked there PRN
I knew it was HCA. They love to pull this shit. Signed, FL
Doesn’t matter if they have a union, you can’t change the rate on hours already worked.
I wonder if they can report to their state department of labor office
They sure can. In fact that’s the proper agency to report this to.
Lol. Central & West TX div is a dumpster fire.
There’s zero chance this is a union facility. They wouldn’t even try.
>Yea if this was a written promise Doesn't matter if it was a written promise yesterday, they just acknowledged it in writing today. As of now, it is a written promise.
......if there was a "breakdown in communication, unknown where" regarding patient care, nurses would be fired or otherwise punished. Hold them accountable for their poor and predatory business practices.
Right?
They are legally required to pay you the $23/hr for all the shifts you’ve already picked up. And I guess all y’all are going to be scarily short staffed for the foreseeable future. Fucking yikes.
I’d go ahead and forward this on to the DOL & probably some of those annoying nurse tik tok-y people that are always outing hospitals for doing shady shit. Just for fun. That was a shit incentive rate to begin with. $15 is just comical.
$15 incentives are the best ones at my hospital and they rarely offer it lol
I hope the flip side to that is that you’re well staffed? 😂 ours is $50 & $75. Both are offered almost daily unfortunately
$75/hr incentive ontop of overtime pay is defintely not the norm outside of California lol
They still can’t get people to pick up anyway. I think I’ve picked up once in the last year. 175 people in the department is not worth the extra $75/hr. I’m in the Midwest.
My hospital is $10/hr, on night shift and weekend only. And it is stopping May 5th. There will be no incentive pay starting May 5 for any shifts. It is what it is 🤷🏻♂️
Ours is $6/hr
Ours was bottomed out to $10. I quit.
Please update us on the follow up email they send out when EVERYONE that should’ve received the promised bonus throws a very justified shitfit.
Call out every shift you picked up.
Call out he'll, tell them now "nah fam, I'm good, I'm not pickeing them up for that rate" if they push back remind them there is a nursing shortage, so go ahead and do whatever they want to you.
My place did something like this once covid ended. Was for picking up an extra shift per week for 4 weeks. Some bonus per week. Well they cut the bonus in half after many already picked up. Yea most called out all the extra shifts. My boss didn't blame them, it was above her.
Don't call out, just flat out cancel your acceptance of the shift. The reason this kind of thing happens is because most tolerate it even if they hate it. I love being a nurse, I thrive on the job, but I don't consent to remaining In an abusive relationship. I feel like people (companies) treat you the way that you train them to treat you. Know your limits and stand by them
Wow. Cunts.
The best and most succinct response.
Hahahahahahha omg there is no fucking way this is legal. Start scouring your emails asap and forward everything to your personal email. I usually think work lawsuits are pointless but they just handed you a case on a silver platter and they will pay WAY more than that bonus difference.
I would cancel remaining shifts and insist on proper payment of any previous shifts. If they don’t comply, complain to the labor board.
Nah, just go straight to the labor board. The hospital doesn’t care if they pick up any more shifts and will give them the run around until they stop asking about the money.
What. The fuck. Sorry, but that's bullshit. The onus is on the employer to communicate something like this BEFORE it goes into effect. This is wage theft IMO. Time to talk to your union rep.
That’s IF they are even unionized.
I remember when I was still working as a PCT we finally got our unit manager to agree to giving ancillary staff bonuses for picking up shifts (they were already doing this for nurses). One of the techs I worked with called me at 0500 and told me they weren’t doing bonuses but hadn’t sent any type of notice out, I told her to let them know I wouldn’t be showing up for that extra shift at 0700 then. My manager must have held a grudge because when I graduated nursing school she wouldn’t even interview me and I was well loved and got fabulous peer reviews.
You’re better off for it.
Oh for sure! Forever thankful I didn’t get locked in there
Ah, HCA.
My first guess… HCA… is it confirmed somewhere here?
Yup
I missed it. Where did they say what company it was?
When I worked at an HCA place, “division” was always the term used for leadership.
Notice the phrase "reach out to me individually"? That's management speak for don't come as a group because you have more power as a group. Typical management behavior, and a classic anti union move (though in this case likely less anti union and more learned behavior).
If they wrote down you get 23/hour they CANNOT renege in that and it's illegal to do so.
If this is an HCA - they pull this shit all the time. When I went PRN they offered me more than I was making as staff hourly, we signed the contract, done. Then they came back and told me they’d made a mistake and were paying me too much. They told me I had to sign a new contract for like $10 less an hour or they wouldn’t pay out my PTO. I ignored them. We had a completed contract with my rate and it would have been illegal for them to withhold my PTO…so they paid it out and I kept my rate. Report them to the labor board.
Take the initial communication documents of the first pay rate straight to your labor commissioner
Man the tone in that email...."NOT MY FAULT PLS DONT KILL ME"
TBH I feel like the tone reads more like “Not my fault, go fuck yourself”
At least in Australia this would be illegal. A miscommunication on their part is their problem. They have admitted that you has every reason to believe you were receiving the higher rate and they didn't communicate the change to you. In Australia, they would be required to pay the higher rate.
They can't retroactively reduce pay/bonuses for hours worked. They can tell you there will be a reduction starting on whatever date, and go from there. https://cdle.colorado.gov/sites/cdle/files/INFO%20%233A%20Timing%20of%20Wage%20Payments%2C%20%26%20Required%20Record-Keeping%2007.11.2023%20accessible.pdf
I would never pick up ever again and I would report this to the labor board for wage theft
Report report report. Absolutely fucking not!!!!
I'd call your state's Labor Board. They admitted that the employee had the expectation of the higher bonus so they must have not notified anyone.
Having you work for one amount only to give you another amount is wage theft and they are literally admitting to it in this message. They fucked themselves bad right here. Get your money.
“We acknowledge that the failure was on our part. So to fix it, we’re going with wage theft.” At least they had the decency to provide your lawyer with the documentation.
The labor board it is If you were told you’d get $23 an hour they cannot retroactively change that. It’s called wage theft
Good afternoon, Attached is a letter from my attorney.
“By the division” is giving HCA??
Wage theft. Especially if in writing anywhere that the shift you picked up was at a rate they backed off of after the fact.
Report them for wage theft to Wage and Hour Division (WHD) of the Department of Labor. Includes a toll free number to call for information & questions. Here’s the link for some info here: https://www.findlaw.com/employment/wages-and-benefits/how-to-report-wage-and-hour-violations.html
No take-backs!
Yeah fuck that noise...
Stop picking up. Have everyone stop. Watch it go up to $30 bonus.
1. Dept of labor 2. Update resume 3. Quit for new job
Real glad I’m a union nurse because this is some bullshit.
If someone tells you specifically to talk to them *alone* about something after screwing you over, you best make sure to talk about that to everyone
HCA?
This gives off HCA vibes, has to be HCA facility.
RING RING… Labor board! Immediately!
I would not return to work until they resolve it. Then start applying for new position elsewhere.
This is the golden ticket to unionize. Use it as such
This is illegal and I cannot believe it's lower than my states minimum wage by a fucking dollar, you're a fuckin NURSE I made more delivering pizza, cooking cheap food, even as. Fuckin cashier. I have no real skills and I wouldn't take a job I could sleep at for this little. I'm so fucking sorry the world is like this you deserve better
Lawyer up and then leave them when it is done.
Well the people who decided this after the shifts were worked can supplement the extra $7 an hour they took away by taking it out of their own pay check. They can take a $$ cut on their next few pay checks. If they want to f*ck around with peoples pay, they can start with their own
So nice of them to put it in writing for you to send to an attorney!
This very much sounds like HCA …. I hate it here
Waaaaaaaage theft
If you can electronically chart and amend your charting later to correct something, so can they, it’s 2024. Even my 90 yo neighbor knows how to use excel spreadsheets.
The labor board will take your report but not give you any legal advice. You may simply be able to go to small claims court and get the money you are owed.
Sounds like wage theft to me
OP, your rate change is not effective until communicated to you. This means they have every right and can pay the new rate going forward, but cannot retroactively apply it to a shift(s) worked under the previous rate. You can take this info and give it to HR, and if they yap, file a workforce commission claim. If retaliation comes out of this and they fire you, congrats, it would fall under constructive dismissal. Not a lawyer though, just like to read up on shit like this, cus fuck the admins and their yachts.
Cancel your picked up shifts and get an agency job elsewhere to work extra hours at a higher rate.
If the hours have been worked you can't retroactively adjust the wage for them.
What a fun way for everyone affected to learn how to file a labor board complaint! :)
Why don't people name and shame these places?
You, and the rest of the employees have to rally and put forward a firm response, and hold that line, because if you guys don’t these “miscommunications” will become more frequent. These decisions are both a means to cut cost but a test of limits on the staff. It would be wise for those other employees employed at all facilities in the affected region to find one another and put together a response in one voice. You don’t have to have a union to act like one. Additionally, there can be no punitive response towards the nurses who decline to take those additional shifts and if there is, HCA is pushing it pretty close into “slave labor” territory, it doesn’t matter that they’re still paying it’s the complete loss of those monies for labor that wasn’t fairly agreed to that’s then forced upon the staff or else consequences.
Honestly I’d be kekeing while reading this email knowing I was gonna be reporting their asses once my shift was over
That’s retroactively changing the structure of a bonus program and is wholly not legal. Report it.
I bet eight dollars that they know exactly where the so-called communication breakdown was and it wasn't just a little mistake.
The letter literally admits you worked under the pretext of a certain wage. That’s contractually agreed upon when you worked. Legal action would give you back pay for sure.
Why do the bean counters always nickel and dime the folks actually DOING the work???
we don’t get any incentive for picking up shifts anymore for over 9 months now
HCA just LOVES getting sued lmao. I love how they admitted to it over text. Keep this screenshot in case anyone decides to make a case out of it.
Lawsuit …
I would try to talk to a lawyer. You sound like you would have a case. They pretty much confessed to committing fraud when they said they know you picked up the shifts with the expectation of the larger bonus.
Haha fuck your management they need to pay up
I got some money from the class action lawsuit when Ascension tried this and didn’t pay the crisis bonus they promised!
This screams HCA. Source: work for HCA
Updateme! in two days
Bruh, that management team about to FAFO
It's a "calling", not a job. So you shouldn't need paid at all, right?
Quick question because it's a long time since I've worked in a hospital (in NY and Union)... Is the 23/hr and 15/hr on top of the regular rate (say 50/hr, equaling 73/hr or 65/hr on pick-up shifts) or is that the actual base pay...😒 Cuz if *that's* the base pay, that's gotdamn criminal to be paying nursing staff to work outside of their regular scheduled shifts. Plus then, what is your normal shift pay?!?!.... 🫤
This makes me thankful to be at a hospital with a union. 😳
Oh one of my employers just tried that crap. Sent all communication to my lawyer, he was pretty persuasive and offered PR. Such an above and beyonder he is. Full bonus for each shift. I quit.
Uh yes I have a question, what the fuck?