HOURS OF WORK AND PAY

WORK SCHEDULE
Rural Healthcare Developers and its Affiliates have the responsibility of providing quality care for its patients 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Therefore, work schedules are established to meet our patients’ needs. Modifications may be necessary from time to time based on census and the level of care needed. Each department will be staffed according to the needs of the individual unit. Changes in posted schedules will be made only with the approval of the appropriate manager or supervisor. The supervisor will notify affected employees of any changes in the work schedule as soon as practicable. Because of the changing nature of workloads and staffing requirements, schedule changes may be necessary from time to time.

LOW CENSUS
In cases of low census, staff will be sent home when the nursing unit, hospital or clinic has excess staff according to the staffing grid. Whenever possible, notice will be given at least two hours prior to the beginning of the shift when a staff member is not required for the entire shift. Staff members are not allowed to take a Low Census Day if other nursing units are working understaffed. PTO cannot be used to supplement hours in the event of low census.

Staff may be assigned to other units or departments if the workload or staffing grid dictates. Staff members who refuse to work in reassigned areas will enter the disciplinary process as follows:
• First Occurrence – Written Warning
• Second Occurrence - Written Warning or Suspension
• Third Occurrence – Termination
A nursing occurrence may be reported as patient abandonment to the State Board of Nursing at the discretion of the Chief Nursing OfficeR.

Low census or work reassignment will be given in the following order:
1. Agency personnel
2. Employees in overtime
3. PRN/Part-time personnel
4. Full-time personnel
If there is more than one person in a category, volunteers are taken first. If there is more than one volunteer, Low Census or reassignment will be rotated.

MAINTAINING PRN STATUS

REST AND MEAL PERIODS
Employees, who work shifts of six hours or more, are entitled to a lunch break; however, meals are considered unpaid time. Rest breaks are not mandated by law but are generally provided to employees when the work schedule permits. Rest breaks are considered paid time and may be taken as assigned by a supervisor.

Employees are not allowed to leave the property during breaks so they are accessible and available if a work need arises. Sleeping is not allowed. Employees are not paid for extra time, if they are unable to take a rest break during the work schedule. Meal and/or breaks may not be used to arrive late, extend lunch or leave early.

Employees are entitled to a 30 minute lunch/meal break for every six hours worked. If an employee leaves the facility for a meal, he/she should clock out when leaving and clock upon return.

TIMEKEEPING
All employees are expected to be at their work stations and ready to begin work at the scheduled starting time of their shifts. Hourly employees are required to accurately record all working hours, including overtime, by clocking in with the biometric clock at his/her location, or in lieu of a biometric clock by web clock or timesheet as assigned. If at any time employees believe they have not been compensated for all hours worked, they must immediately notify their managers or the appropriate Human Resources representative.

Employees who are required to clock in must do so no earlier than 7 minutes before the start of their shifts and clock out no later than 7 minutes after the end of their shifts, unless they are approved to work overtime. Employees should not be on-site an excessive length of time before clocking in and are expected to leave the premises at the conclusion of their shifts.

Time records must have supervisory approval before being submitted to payroll for payment. Employees, who misrepresent the hours they have worked, or falsify time records in any manner, are subject to immediate disciplinary action up to and including termination of employment. Employees are expected to check their time on an ongoing basis. If an employee finds the final tally of hours is incorrect, the employee should notify Human Resources prior to checks being finalized. Shortages not reported in time will be corrected on the following paycheck.

OVERTIME
Because of the around-the-clock nature of health care work assignments, it may occasionally be necessary for employees to work some overtime. When the need for overtime arises, employees are expected to work overtime if re-quested by their managers. Overtime will be considered time worked in one week in excess of 40 hours for those employees who are eligible for over-time compensation as defined by federal law. All overtime must be author-ized by the appropriate supervisor/manager.

Eligible employees, as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act, who work overtime as described above will be paid at one and one-half times their regular rate for the overtime hours. Paid absences, such as PTO or sick leave, are not counted as time worked and therefore are not included in the calculation of overtime.

SHIFT DIFFERENTIAL
A shift differential is paid to employees in eligible positions for certain job qualifiers. The amount of shift differential varies depending on job classification; therefore, employees should consult their supervisors or the Human Resources department if they have any questions regarding the amount for their shifts. To be eligible for shift differential pay, employees must work at least an hour during the designated shift. Overtime during shift diff hours are computed by the regular overtime rate with the addition of the shift differential added to each hour worked.

ON CALL/RECALL
Because of the nature of health care, employees are subject to being called back to work during emergency situations. In cases where the likelihood of an emergency can be anticipated, an employee may be placed in an on-call status for a limited time period. Employees who are on-call are expected to be available to be called in and are expected to respond within a reasonable time span as determined and communicated by their managers. Predetermined on-call hours that have been approved by management are compensated at a predetermined amount.

Should an on-call employee be recalled to work, the on-call compensation will cease for the period of time that the employee is actually working and will begin again when the employee returns to an on-call status. All hours actually worked when an employee is recalled to work are included as hours worked in computing whether or not overtime requirements are met.

COMPENSATION
Employees are paid on a biweekly basis. Documentation of employees’ pay and all applicable deductions is provided to employees bi-weekly. Employees who are not paid by direct deposit and who are unable to receive their pay stubs can designate in writing for another person to obtain it.

Before the pay stubs are released to anyone other than the employee, the designated individual must submit a written and signed release from the employee. All employees can also see their pay stubs prior to checks being issued by going to the payroll website. For more information, employees should ask their Human Resources Representative.

INCORRECT PAY
When an error has been made in an employee’s pay, RHD will make the appropriate corrections. It is an employee’s responsibility to check for and immediately report errors to their supervisor.

1099 EMPLOYEES
It is the responsibility of the employee to submit completed timesheets to HR no later than 8:30 a.m. the Monday of payroll week. HR verifies the timesheet and submits timesheets to payroll no later than 9:00 am the Monday of payroll week to Payroll. Without a completed timesheet submitted to Payroll, 1099 employees will not be paid.

OVERTIME
It is the policy of RHD to schedule employees adequately so that no employee works over 40 hours per week.

When a RHD employee is scheduled to work more than forty (40) hours in any given work week, overtime will be paid at 1-1/2 times the regular rate for hours in excess of 40 in a single week.

REDUCTION IN PAY
For a variety of reasons, an employee may be reassigned to a job that has a lower pay range than the job they had previously held. In such cases, a reduction in pay will apply.

GARNISHMENT OF WAGES
RHD honors wage garnishments. Employees will be notified by payroll immediately upon receipt of the court order. Any questions related to wage garnishments should be directed to Payroll Services by calling 662-840-0196. Garnishments and levies cannot be lifted without court approval.

DIRECT DEPOSIT
Employees of facilities, which use direct deposit, must have a checking or savings account or debit card to which credit can be applied.

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