Employment and Labor Relations Presentation - Nancy Carol ONLY

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Employment and Labor Relations

Learning Team B

July 21, 2014

Linda Hagler-Reid

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Introduction

Scenario Information

Nurse Sammie

Full time nurse

Working overtime and not documenting time on her time sheet

Has extra 200 hours of overtime in past 6 months

Has kept a log of overtime hours

No compensation received

Nurse Marissa

Full time nurse

Working mandatory overtime and time is documented on time sheet

Receives overtime 7 days a week

Compensation received

In scenario B, two full time nurses worked overtime (University of Phoenix, n.d.). One nurse, Sammie, has been working overtime off the clock (University of Phoenix, n.d.). According to Sammie, she has worked an extra 200 hours in the past six months (University of Phoenix, n.d.). She did not document the overtime on her time sheet and has not received compensation (University of Phoenix, n.d.). She complains to other coworkers telling them about all the free time she is donating to the hospital and now she decides to inform her manager of the overtime (University of Phoenix, n.d.). She tells her manager even though she has not documented the overtime on her time sheet, she has kept track of her overtime hours for the past months (University of Phoenix, n.d.).

The second nurse, Marissa, is working mandatory overtime (University of Phoenix, n.d.). She is receiving overtime seven days a week (University of Phoenix, n.d.). Marissa has accurately documented her overtime on her time sheet and has received compensation from her employer (University of Phoenix, n.d.). She complains to her manager that she is feeling tired and burned out from working all the overtime, but her manager ignores her complaints and continues to have Marisa work overtime (University of Phoenix, n.d.). Eventually, Marissa quits and the census on the unit begins to increase (University of Phoenix, n.d.) The unit manager for both nurses comes to the executive administrator and wants to know what to do (University of Phoenix, n.d.).

Laws

Employment laws, also known as labor laws

Regulate how an employer pays employees for hours worked, overtime, and wages

Based on federal and state constitutions, legislations, administrative rules, and court opinions

Serve as guideline, however each state may have additional laws to follow

Employment laws, also known as labor laws, regulate how an employer pays employees for hours worked, including overtime and wages. According to HG.org Legal Resources (2014), “employment laws are based on federal and state constitutions, legislations, administrative rules, and court opinions” (para. 1). Labor laws are intended to keep workers safe and ensure workers are treated fairly (HG.org Legal Resources, 2014). The Fair Labor Standard Act (FLSA) is a set of federal rules that serve as a guideline, however each state may have additional labor laws to follow (HG.org Legal Resources, 2014). According to HG.org Legal Resources (2014) “the federal government does not place limits on the number of hours adults may work per week, but after 40 hours time and a half must be paid” (para. 4). Almost every state labor law presumes the relationship between an employer and employee is at will meaning both parties are able to terminate employment at any time and for any reason with some exceptions noted (HG.org Legal Resources, 2014).

Laws

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) states:

Employers MUST maintain accurate documentation on each employee

All payroll records are maintained for three years

All time cards and work and time schedules are maintained for two years

Violates are subject to civil money penalties

Overtime accrued is paid regardless if employer permits overtime or has authorized the overtime

Employers are required to maintain accurate documentation on each employee under the FLSA rules and regulations (United States Department of Labor, 2008). All payroll records are required to be maintained for three years by the employer (United States Department of Labor, 2008). All time cards and work and time schedules are required to be maintained for two years by the employer (United States Department of Labor, 2008). According to the United States Government Printing Office (2014), “any person who repeatedly or willfully violates the minimum wage (section 6) or overtime provisions (section 7) of the Act shall be subject to a civil money penalty not to exceed &1,000 for each violation” (para. 1). According to HG.org Legal Resources (2014), in regards to false reporting, employers who “establish rules that overtime work will not be permitted or paid without advance authorization” and choose to disregard the overtime or do not allow those hours to be reported are in violation of the FLSA (para. 10). However, the employee may be terminated for not receiving proper authorization for the overtime worked.

Working Off the Clock

Fair Labor Standards Act

Non-exempt employees must be compensated

Must comply with overtime regulations

Must be paid for time even if it is unauthorized.

The Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) states that all employees who are eligible to receive overtime must be paid for all hours worked. Any hours worked over 40 is considered overtime hours. Therefore, the individual must be paid a wage at no less than 1 1/2 their regular wage for any hours worked 40. The employee must also be paid for any unauthorized time. If an employer knows or has a reason to believe the employee is continuing to work after their shift, they must be paid for this time (U.S. Department of Labor, 2009).

Mandatory Overtime

Fair Labor Standards Act

Does not prohibit mandatory overtime

Only a few states have mandatory overtime regulations

All hours after 40 must be follow overtime laws

Can not create a safety risk

Mandatory overtime or forced overtime is when employers mandate employees work over 40 hours per week, even when they do not want to. Nursing and similar occupations tend to have more overtime regulations than other occupations. There is no federal law that prohibits the amount of hours an employee can work. Very few states regulate mandatory overtime. California has placed minimal limits on forced overtime. However, if an employee is eligible to receive overtime, the company must follow overtime laws. There is no limit on the number of hours allowed for mandatory overtime. However, the mandatory overtime must not create a safety risk (Legal Match, 2014).

In case scenario B Marissa has been working mandatory overtime every day. According to the law there is no restriction on forced overtime. However, she has been complaining of "burnout". Therefore, this could potentially be a safety risk. Therefore, the law does state that the mandatory overtime cannot be a safety risk. The manager should not have ignored her complaints. A plan should have been developed to limit the mandatory overtime to ensure there are no safety risk.

Problem resolution

Nurse Sammie

Understanding of documenting time properly

Pay her for all hours worked

Monitor her time

Determine why she can not complete her tasks on time

In case scenario B, Sammie has been working off the clock, and has but in over an extra 200 hours over the past 6 months. Sammie should have been paid for this time even if the organization was not aware that she was working off the clock. Once the manager became aware of the situation a conversation must take place with Sammie to explain the importance of documenting all hours worked. Her time also needs to be monitored to ensure that if she is at work and completing work related tasks that she is clocked in. In addition, the management team needs to look at why employees are not able to complete their work. Possible solutions is to look at staffing patterns in relation to census and acuity of the patients, and how patient assignments are made.

Problem resolution

Nurse Marissa

Determine why the manager did not listen to Marissa’s concerns

Identify safety concerns with mandatory overtime

Develop plan to rotate mandatory overtime between staff

Determine if changes can be made to staffing patterns to decrease mandatory overtime

Prospective Risk Management

According to "Hrcouncil" (2014), Risks are inevitable and organizations have a moral and legal obligation to attend to the safety and well-being of those they serve, those who work for them and others who come into contact with their operations. Such risk include Occupational Health and Safety, for example personal injury.

Having a risk management process means that your organization knows and understands the risks to which you are exposed. It also means that your organization has deliberately evaluated the risks and has strategies in place to remove the risk altogether, reduce the likelihood of the risk happening or minimize harm in the event that something happens. Once the risk management process is in place, everyone in the organization has a role to play from identifying risks to following policies and procedures to completing forms and reports.

Prospective Risk Management Strategies

Develop strategies for managing risks

Avoidance

Acceptance

Modification

Implement

Monitor

Develop strategies for managing risks-Consider the most appropriate risk management strategies for each identified risk

Avoidance - Stop providing the service or doing the activity because it is too risky

Acceptance-Some risky activities are central to the mission of an organization and an organization will choose to accept the risks.

Modification -Change the activity to reduce the likelihood of the risk occurring or reduce the severity of the consequences.

Implement-Provide training for all organizational staff and volunteers so they understand the rationale of the risk management plan as well as the expectations, procedures, forms.

Monitor-Assess each of the risks based on the (1) likelihood or frequency of the risk occurring and (2) the severity of the consequences.

References

HG.org Legal Resources. (2014). Employment law. Retrieved from http://www.hg.org/employ.html

HG.org Legal Resources. (2014). My employer didn't pay me, now what?. Retrieved from http :// www.hg.org/article.asp?id=30940

HRCouncil. Ca.(2014). Retrieved from http://hrcouncil.ca/hr-toolkit/planning-risk-assessment.cfm

Legal Match. (2014). Forced overtime. Retrieved from http://www.legalmatch.com/law- library/article/forced-overtime.html

University of Phoenix. (n.d.). Employment and labor relations scenarios. Retrieved from University of Phoenix, HCS545 website.

U.S. Department of Labor. (2009). Fact sheet #53 – The health care industry and hours worked . Retrieved from https://dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs53.pdf

References

United States Department of Labor. (2008). Fact sheet #21: recordkeeping requirements under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs21.htm

United States Department of Labor. (2008). Fact sheet #23: overtime pay requirements of the FLSA. Retrieved from http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs23.pdf

References

United States Government Printing Office. (2014). Part 578-minimum wage and overtime violations-civil money penalties. Retrieved from http://www.ecfr.gov/cgi- bin/text- idx?c=ecfr&sid=48d6ee3b99d3b3a97b1bf189e1757786&rgn=div5 &view=text&node=29:3.1.1.1.33&idno=29#29:3.1.1.1.33.0.139 .3

References