Working overtime 1 week / use of PTO next week

Tari

New Member
Jurisdiction
Texas
I work for a hospital and our NORM work hours are 3 - 12 hour shifts per week or 72 hours per pay period. We earn PTO each pay period based on years of service.

I recently had an issue where I worked 4 - 12 hour shifts in week 1 of pay period, I was paid overtime after reaching 40 hours. I also had a vacation planned for the following week for 2 days. I put in a request to use 2 days or 24 hours of PTO weeks in advance and my request for these 2 days was approved and confirmed by management.

When I received my check I was paid my productive hours of 49 hours plus the 9 hours at 1/2 pay rate in week 1, paid 12 hours in week 2 because I worked 1 day, but the 24 hours of PTO I put in for and was expecting to be paid for was reduced to 11 hours because I worked that extra day in week 1.

I read our policy regarding PTO and proved I was supposed to be paid all 24 hours of PTO because the extra day worked in week 1 was approved by management. Others would not know to go to this extent and research what the HR/payroll VP is actually doing to us hourly employees. She is removing PTO so you don't go over the 72 hours per pay period and penalizing you for going on vacation or even calling in sick in week 2 ( same scenario goes for week 3 and 4). So it looks like you worked that extra day for nothing basically because u only get the 9 hours at 1/2 ur base rate only.
My question is,
Based on the attached policy that I believe our HR Vice President is interpreting incorrectly and shorting employee's pay.
Can this worldwide healthcare company average 2 work weeks together, and justify it because our NORM hours are 72 in a pay period? Can they reduce your PTO hours in the 2nd work week, that you want paid for, after working extra in the 1st week of the pay period??

The 72 hours per pay period is a guide for what is required to work for a full time employee and not an absolute. Extra shifts are worked all the time in the hospital industry and you should be able to work those extra shifts in a 40 hour work week and it should not be averaged over the pay period like they are doing while removing PTO in the next week. Each week is supposed to be treated as a separate 40 hour work week per the Department of Labor laws.

They also have a cap on your PTO so if you reach that cap because they continually deny your PTO after working extra, which a lot of us do, you will not earn any more PTO and/or it forces you to cash your PTO out at .90 cents on the $1.00 which to me is stealing from your employees and penalizing them for working extra. You should be able to use ur PTO when you want because you earned it. If you work 60 hours one week you should still be able to take 36 hours of PTO the next week in a pay period for vacation or if you get sick. Its not calculated into overtime and is paid out of a totally separate category which they should already have calculated and set aside for each employee. You should not be penalized for getting sick or wanting a vacation after giving your heart and soul to a multi billion dollar company and taking care of human life.
Awful and this company gave barely nothing during the pandemic as far as extra bonus money to those of us that didn't miss a day to COVID. Less than $200 when other businesses were giving $500 and even $1,000's.

I personally have a feeling this company is purposely keeping us at 72 hours when they can so they continue to show the government they still have a need for help and assistance with agency nurses they don't have to pay for out of pocket. There is something more to this that needs to be uncovered. They are known to have been greedy before and had the largest Medicare lawsuit against them in the history of healthcare.
 

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Federal law says that you must be paid overtime at the rate of time and a half for every hour worked over 40 in a week. That's a week, not a pay period. Your company policy cannot override Federal (or state, but it's Federal law that's in play here) law.

Neither Federal nor state law gives half a hoot how your PTO is accrued or paid. In fact, neither Federal nor state law gives half a hoot if you have PTO at all. There are states that care more about PTO than Texas does, but PTO is not required by law in any state that I know of.

If you got paid for all the time you actually worked, and got overtime for the hours over 40 you worked in the first week, the law will consider that you were paid correctly.

If you are in a union, you can grieve it through the union. If you really want to pursue this, I suppose you could show your company policy to a Texas employment attorney and see if they think your policy is an enforceable contract, but I wouldn't be holding my breath on it.
 
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