Uncompensated Work During Breaks Create Issues

Uncompensated work during lunch breaks for nurses in Philadelphia led to a lawsuit against seven hospitals in the area. According to the report, the computerized payroll system the institutions were using automatically deducted 30 minutes from their work time whether they took the break or not.

The involved hospitals did not give any comments on this and according to the executive director of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals said that working through unpaid lunch breaks has now become a norm in the hospital setting and that employees are reluctant to protest it.

In most institutions, there are not enough nurses on the floor to care for the patients in the area. Being in a job that requires prioritizing others over oneself, going for a 30-minute break with no coverage would not only be selfish but unethical. Most nurses who work during their lunch breaks are not left with any choice but it doesn’t mean that they should tolerate this kind of work culture. There are a lot of things that can be done to ensure that nurses get the proper time allotment for their meals and it involves both the nurses and nurse managers.

Since most of the time the reason for not having a break is lack of replacement, the nurse managers can set up a break schedule where everybody can have break without having to leave the patients without supervision. Those on duty can go on rotating breaks where one goes first and when he/she gets back, the other takes his/her turn.If this is not possible, then they should compensate for the time that the nurses continued working when they should be out on a break. They could also let them go home earlier to make up for the time they worked for.

A reason for the reluctance in complaining about this situation is that nurses don’t want to create conflict in the workplace that could lead to termination. However, it is the same reason why this keeps on going on. If nurses won’t stand for their rights and demand for just compensation, then this work culture will never change.