Issue link: https://nnumagazine.uberflip.com/i/1520212
Report Missed Breaks and Meals — Pay Penalties According to California's Industrial Welfare Com- mission regulations for the health care industry: » An RN is entitled to an off-duty rest period of 10 minutes (15 minutes per CNA/NNU contracts) for every four hours worked or major fraction of four hours worked (one break for more than two hours and less than six hours worked, two breaks for more than six hours and less than 10 hours worked, etc.). » An RN is entitled to an off-duty unpaid meal period of not less than 30 minutes for a workday of five hours or more. If the workday does not exceed six hours, the nurse and the employer may waive the meal period by mutual consent. Being available on pager, or being in the nurse's lounge to be available as needed is not consid- ered a break or meal. You must be free from all responsibilities and your patients must be covered by another RN. » If an employer fails to provide a meal period or rest period in accordance with applicable pro- visions (relieved from duty and uninterrupted), they must pay one additional hour at the nurse's regular rate of compensation for each work- day that the meal period or a rest period is not provided. » A nurse is entitled to two hours of penalty pay for a workday in which both a rest break vio- lation and a meal break violation occur. These penalties are on top of the half hour overtime received for missing meal breaks. Know Your Rights Claim and Report Missed Breaks 47 MISSED-BREAK TIPS › Sign no waivers of your rights. Mark all missed breaks and meal penalties on your time card and keep careful records: date, time, shift, and witnesses. › File ADOs for short staffing that causes missed breaks or meals. › Do not let your manager influence you to falsify your time record by failing to record missed meals and breaks. Your employer is liable for this prac- tice, especially managers who knowingly permit this practice or who intimidate RNs/NPs into time falsification. › Your license is in jeopardy if you are working while you are off the clock.