I'm not understanding how this can be?

They've cut our hours at work. The econony being the critical factor. The manager has been told to shave "x" amount of hours off of the budget. I don't work a traditional hospital floor job, but I do work in the hospital. We've been cut from 40hrs to 32hrs per week. Still full time, same benefits, etc


Here's the problem.

Instead of working 4- 10hr shifts, I now work 4- 8hr shifts. A statement went out yesterday to all of the nurses that said while you will all be leaving now at 5pm understand that if we need you to stay over to 7pm when it's busy, you will be required to do so without complaints. Is that fair? It seems they are having their cake and eating it too.
If you work in a "right to be fired any time they feel like it" state, you know the deal.

Does that violate the terms of employment agreement?

If you are in a Union, consult your shop steward, if not, then you will have to go along with what they do. As mentioned, Right to Work States are also, Right to Terminate States. Remember, there is always someone else waiting in line to do your job for less, especially in this economy.Keep your chin up! Smile! Be cooperative and and helpful. Model employees are a true asset.

You get paid if you stay over, right? You're still hourly?

It sounded like they expect you to work for free. Welcome to the NWO my friends. With unemployment being so rampant expect to eat dirt , be walked all over and abused or lose your job. This is going to be the New "normal" from now on.

I would just plan my life as if I had my old hours. That way when you get to leave on time it is like getting a little extra free time that you had not planned on. There is very little else that you can do unless you can find a new job, but this kind of stuff is happening at a lot of places. On the positive side at least you get to mantain your full time status.

If you dont mind, OP, can you tell us what state you live in?

Curious what state do you live in in NY you are only paid overtime for working over 40 hrs in a week. Since they cut you hrs to 32 a week will they pay you overtime for staying?

Quote from TwilightRNurseA statement went out yesterday to all of the nurses that said while you will all be leaving now at 5pm understand that if we need you to stay over to 7pm when it's busy, you will be required to do so without complaints. Is that fair?

If they pay you for it, then sorry to say...yeah, it's not rainbows and sunshine fair, but its "fair enough". If they don't pay you for it (because I honestly can't tell intentions from the wording), well no matter the state, it's illegal.

It's not illegal if one is on salary, but would be if one is paid hourly.

It sounds to me like you'd be effectively "on-call" for those extra two hours, so they should be paying you at an on-call rate if they don't need you to stay. If you have to plan your personal time to keep that time free if needed (i.e., not making any appointments or dates for 6 pm), then you should be compensated. It's no different from a person being on-call for a night - you have to stay flexible and within a reasonable distance from the phone and from the hospital, so you get paid a bit for that even if you don't get called in to work.