Charge asked me to stay 4 hours because we had nobody coming in for the overnight admits. I stayed. Got a write-up today for unapproved overtime because apparently charge doesn't have the authority to approve it and I was supposed to know that.
So what am I supposed to do next time, walk out and leave 7 patients with one nurse? Because that's exactly what they're telling me to do. Does anyone actually push back on these or do you just sign it and stay angry?
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Post replyBeen there. Never staying late without a name and a text in writing again.
They want us to be heroes when it's convenient and rule followers when it's time to pay us. Pick one.
Same thing happened to me two years ago. I wrote a rebuttal, cc'd my manager and HR, and pointed out the alternative was unsafe staffing they'd have been liable for. The write-up got pulled within a week. They count on people just signing and moving on.
Was this the charge's idea alone, or did they think they had approval and just never called it up? Because if charge is telling staff they can approve OT and they can't, that's a charge problem, not a you problem.
Gonna be the unpopular one here, but most places I've worked post the OT approval chain right on the unit, and it's usually the house sup. Not saying the write-up is fair, especially since charge put you in that spot, but a 2 minute call to the sup covers you every time.
Do not sign it without writing your own statement on it or attaching one. Put the date, time, who asked you to stay, and the staffing numbers. In most places signing only acknowledges you received it, but your version needs to be in that file too.