WSNA was notified that PeaceHealth intends to change the way they round time in the MyTime Kronos system. The current offers a seven-minute grace window before and after your scheduled shift, but their new system will pay for every minute worked without rounding to the nearest hour. This is a practice we are seeing across the state as hospitals move towards this process.

In addition to that change, PeaceHealth proposed to change the way they calculate overtime when you work a shift that is an extra day, not your scheduled day to work. These have been calculated as overtime for those hours as well as being counted in the total hours worked in the week, resulting in overtime after 40 hours worked. PeaceHealth feels that this is counting towards overtime pay twice. They are now proposing that hours paid at premium rates (1.5x regular rate OR 2x regular rate) will not be added to the hours that determine overtime after 40 hours/ week.

PeaceHealth also noted that shift differentials were being multiplied at the premium rate, and feel that this is an error. They proposed that the nurse’s wage rate should be calculated at premium rate when calculating overtime, but the shift differential should not be paid at 1.5x or 2x. We are not in agreement that the contract language supports their opinion.

Any subjects regarding hours, wages, or working conditions are mandatory subjects of bargaining. Therefore, WSNA demanded to bargain and met with attorneys, nurses, and representatives for all Washington state PeaceHealth hospitals.

Many of the changes they are proposing will come out of our nurse's pockets. Management wants these changes. At a time when nurses are doing everything they can to work extra hours while being short-staffed, it is baffling that they want to change how they calculate OT and take away more incentives for you to work extra.

They didn’t seem to understand the logistics of where the time clocks are and the length of time it takes to log in to the computer, were dismissive of our concerns, and didn’t fully comprehend the impacts of any of their proposed changes.

We are scheduled to negotiate again on March 23 and will provide an update following those negotiations.

Questions? Contact WSNA Nurse Representative Brenda Balogh at bbalogh@wsna.org.