Nurses File Lawsuit Over Time To Dress For Work

[The Straight Story]

Nurses File Lawsuit Over Time To Dress For Work

AURORA, Colo. (CBS4)- Two nurses have filed a lawsuit over the time it takes to put on and take off their scrubs. They want to get paid to dress.

The class action lawsuit was filed by two nurses at Aurora Medical Center. They believe more employees of the hospital group both locally and nationwide will join in the lawsuit once their complaint is heard.

These nurses are required to wear scrubs while on the job. Those scrubs are not allowed to leave the hospital. The process could add 15 minutes to their shift.

“We have to go into a certain area not by the time clock, to find our size, which is not readily available and then change and then go back to the time clock and punch in,” said Aurora Medical Center nurse Natalie Fiore.

http://denver.cbslocal.com/2011/11/09/nurses-file-lawsuit-over-time-to-dress-for-work/

[Fumesucker]

1. I can shit, shower, shave and dress in fifteen minutes easily.. n/t

[Occulus]

2. You aren't scrubbing in, though.

That takes time and they should be compensated for it as a job duty.

[Divernan]

6. Putting on scrubs is different than scrubbing in.

You don't scrub for surgery before punching a time clock. You scrub in and go directly into the OR.

That said, I think they should be compensated for a part of their job which takes place after they enter the workplace/hospital. God knows the local "non-profit" hospital chain makes enough profit to pay their top executive, Jeffrey Romoff over four million per year.

[joeglow3]

14. Somebody watchs too many television shows.

This is insane. EVERYBODY has to get dressed for work. I would bet I spend much more time getting dressed when I have to wear a suit. Get over it.

[Horse with no Name]

36. Curious. Do you have a clue of what it means to scrub in?

Not only that...they DO have to get dresssed for work...but then, have to spend time getting dressed AGAIN when they get there.

[HopeHoops]

4. Hell, it can take me 15 minutes just to shit - especially if I'm reading the paper.

I don't shave, so that saves time. Dress? depends on the day. A suit takes longer than slobby house clothes. Shower, well, now there I need my wife's help these days (back injury). She would be pissed as a swatted hornet if she found out I'd tried that without her around, and frankly for good reason.

[Fumesucker]

8. Scrubs are far closer to sloppy house clothes than a business suit..

I like to read on the toilet too but not when I'm getting ready for work.

Sorry to hear of your back problems.

:hi:

[HopeHoops]

9. If I don't read the paper on the throne, I never get to it.

[NYC_SKP]

21. Hell, it takes me half an hour to FIND the paper.

I'd make a crappy nurse!

[WI_DEM]

40. that is kind of a silly reply

[Evergreen Emerald]

3. Ironic considering that hospitals charge for every second admitted and every kleenex.

Double standard.

[KatyMan]

5. Hospital nurses get screwed on their time all the time

If you work from 645 to 315 you have to get in at 630 for report. And after 315 you have to give report. They're treated like hourly employees--if you leave 10 minutes early you get docked, but if you stay 10 minutes late, they say you're a salaried employee.

[joeglow3]

15. Um, if your hospital does that, they are breaking to law.

You are either salaried or not. Of the jobs my wife has had, none have done that.

[Major Nikon]

31. They can do it under certain circumstances

If they consider the employee FLSA exempt, they are a salaried employee and would be exempt from DOL overtime rules. With a registered nurse they could do this by saying they manage other employees. Lots of employers pull those types of tricks, which is why it's nice to have a union that can challenge such things better than an employee could do on their own.

[Betty88]

7. One group of guys I work with get this

They have to be in uniform, the company takes care of the washing, I believe they get an extra 15 min a day.

[madville]

10. Seems kind of nitpicky to me but I am used to working as salary, not hourly

I put on my polo shirt with company logo at home then go to the office. Work hours are 8-5, but I get in around 7:30am, get some coffee, BS a little, get on email, etc. Many days I am there till 5:15 or 5:30 finishing an email, report, spreadsheet, phone call, getting something ready to ship out, etc. Never really gotten bent out of shape over 15 minutes here or there.

[The Straight Story]

11. When I worked in manufacturing you had to get to work, go to locker, change clothes

before you clocked in for the day to work (and you could not take uniforms home). 10 min before and after shift (locker room was not even attached to the building and you had to clock in inside the actual factory.

[Major Nikon]

33. Some unions negotiated those types of deals

For workers that frequently tear or stain clothing, being provided a uniform is a benefit to the employee. If you have to leave the uniform at work, that means the company was having them cleaned, which is another benefit.

[Major Nikon]

32. 15 minutes per day adds up to 100 hours per year

So if the nurse makes $30 per hour, that's $3,000 per year the hospital is screwing them out of. Doesn't sound trivial to me.

[boston bean]

12. If it is a requirement of the job, they should be paid for their time. PERIOD!

I agree with the nurses.

[Sirveri]

13. This is the correct response. They are doing what they're told, so pay them.

Otherwise why should they do it?

[joeglow3]

16. So, I should get paid for wiping my ass?

After all, my employer expects me to not have shit smeared all over my ass stinking the office up?

[JHB]

26. In this context, it is more like your employer requiring a non-odorous backside...

...but docking your pay for time spent on routine actions to comply with that requirement.

[Major Nikon]

37. I always try to take a shit on company time

3 day weekends are a bit of a challenge.

[Sirveri]

41. If you use the bathroom on company time, you already have been.

Should you not get bathroom breaks? Have them taken out of your pay?

[Logical]

18. My job requires a suit, should work pay me to get dressed in the morning and pay for the suit? Just.

Plain stupid logic!

[The Straight Story]

19. if your job required you to change once you got to work? (nt)

[Logical]

22. Why does it matter where I change?

[The Straight Story]

24. In my case, you could not take uniforms at home, but you had to be in uniform to clock in

So you get to work, get undressed and store clothes in locker, change, walk to factory, and punch in on time.

Would be no big deal if we could take uniforms home.

[NYC_SKP]

25. You can wear your suit all day long, you can go to dinner in your suit, fill up your tank, etc..

You get up in the morning and put on your suit and then do everything you need to in the suit unless you choose to play tennis or something.

These employees don't have that option/luxury.

They can't dress in scrubs and go to work, the work requires they leave the scrubs there.

Thus, they are forced to get dressed and undressed twice daily, in their street clothes and in their scrubs.

It's very simple, it's very logical. The employer forces the situation and they should pay for the employee's time needed to go through this.

It's the same in some food service jobs and on pipeline and heavy construction jobs.

Clock in. Gear up.

Gear off. Clock out. Go home.

[Orsino]

17. Inescapable consequence of for-profit hospital ownership and weak labor laws.

"You were docked for the time you were up in the air."

Sorry, nurses. Y'all deserve better, and one day we'll all realize it.

[madville]

20. Aren't they kind of screwing themselves by having to get to work even earlier and stay later?

Say they win and get to clock in 15 minutes earlier and out 15 minutes later to cover their clothes changing time.

I have worked at places were if you clocked in one minute past start time you were reprimanded and, after a certain number of times within a given period, possibly dismissed. So now they need to get to work another 5,10,15 minutes earlier(unpaid) to make sure they beat the clock.

Then if they were like me, I could change out of work clothes into street clothes in about 2 minutes and be walking out the door. Now I would have to sit around an extra 10+ minutes waiting on the clock because many places will reprimand you for clocking out early as well.

They probably won't get any extra hours or money, the hospital could just bookend their current shift with a block of changing time, meaning they ultimately have a few less minutes on the floor with patients or the hospital could just inject any extra payroll costs into possible future raise considerations, starting salaries, layoffs, etc.

[NYC_SKP]

23. The key to this is that the scrubs cannot leave the hospital, they have to be taken on and off

while on the premises.

They should be allowed to punch in and then go about finding and donning their scrubs.

I think there are precedents in other industries that involve specific attire and/or safety gear.

[surrealAmerican]

35. If nothing else, it will give the hospital an incentive ...

... to keep those scrubs organized and easy to find.

[w8liftinglady]

27. I worked in interventional radiology

we wore street clothes,clocked in and changed.The time clock was on the entrance door to the changing room.I can't tell you how many times I had to stat scrub for a procedure.
...and bear in mind- this was in "Right-to-work" Texas.
Pure bull,imho...i hope the nurses win!

[Supply Side Jesus]

28. good luck with that

other professions been seeking the same compensation for years

[iris27]

29. In college, I worked as a nurse's aide at the same hospital where my mom works as an ICU nurse.

Those in ICU and those in surgery have to change into scrubs there - the clothing cannot leave the hospital, and is laundered by the hospital. They clock in before going to the locker room to change, and don't clock out until they've changed back into street clothes.

I worked on a regular patient floor. I was allowed to wear my scrubs home and to launder them myself. Because I could put them on first thing in the morning and wear them in, I was not paid for any changing time. In fact, we didn't even have a locker room, just a break room with a lock on the door where employees' belongings could be stored.

I guess the difference was because it would be more dangerous for ICU and OR scrubs to be out in the world and exposed to more possible contaminents.

But whatever the reason, the disparity makes perfect sense to me. If you have to change AT WORK, you should be paid for that time.

[iris27]

30. delete - dupe

[snooper2]

34. ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL ROFL

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

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[ieoeja]

39. Funny isn't it? Why should people expect to be paid when they are required to be at work?

:sarcasm:

I don't normally put in the sarcasm tag. But since you appear to seriously think it is funny that people are complaining about not being paid for the time they are required to be at work, I guess I need one ere someone mistakenly believe I am agreeing with you.

[GreenTea]

38. Nurse's are so over-worked, ALWAYS short-staffed & underpaid, but NOT the doctors & hospitals!