VMFH management finally agreed last Friday pay incentives should include the Family Care Act and WA Sick Leave as time worked. Therefore, if a nurse calls off and uses any of the contractual or lawful protected leaves on a regularly scheduled shift, they will still be eligible for Spot Pay or Extra Weekend Pay if they work above their FTE.

If you worked above your FTE while the previous incentives were in place and were denied the incentive due to calling off for time that qualified under the Family Care Act or WA Sick Leave you are eligible for that incentive pay. Please file a PAR and include all the days you believe you should have been paid an were not. The PAR should be submitted to your manager. You should receive a copy of the PAR with the date the correction will be paid. The error should be corrected within the first full pay period following 30-days of the notification of the error.

Please see the complete agreement below:

Program: Spot Pay

Rate: $40/hour

Eligible positions: Registered nurses

Spot Pay Definition: Extra shifts worked beyond FTE in a work week.

Eligibility - Employee must work FTE for the week to be eligible. Per Diems must meet minimum commitment and all scheduled shifts must be worked for the week to be eligible. * Prescheduled Time Off, Mandatory low census, Jury Duty, LOA, FMLA, WA Paid Family Medical Leave, Washington Paid Sick Leave, Family Care Act, Military, and Bereavement leave, during the work week will be counted as time worked. May NOT be combined with Extra Weekend Spot Pay incentive. Per Diems Spot pay may be paid before the commitment shifts are worked. Shifts that are committed and scheduled but not worked will convert to an equivalent shift paid with Spot Pay to a regular commitment shift without Spot Pay, unless the reason for not fulfilling the shifts was one of the protected leaves noted above.

Pay Processing - Must be documented by the employee on exception log in pay period in which extra shift is worked. Consistent, with the paycheck error language in the contract, nurses must submit a PAR for any paycheck error.

Program: Extra Weekend Spot Pay

Rate: $80/hour

Eligible units - Any unit in a situation where beds will be closed or if needed to avoid divert status or to avoid canceling procedures.

Eligible positions - Registered nurses

Approval - Activated by Executive Leadership on an as needed basis.

Extra Weekend Spot Pay Definition - Extra, full shifts (8, 10 or 12 hour shifts) picked up and worked beyond the employees FTE in the work week. Partial shifts are NOT eligible. Weekend shifts include Friday Shift 3 through Sunday Shift 3 for 12 hour shifts and Friday Shift 2 through Sunday Shift 3 for 8 and 10 hour shifts.

Eligibility - Employee must work FTE for the week to be eligible.

*Per Diems must meet minimum commitment and all scheduled shifts must be worked for the week to be eligible. Prescheduled Time Off, Mandatory low census, Jury Duty, LOA, FMLA, WA Paid Family Medical Leave Washington Paid Sick Leave, Family Care Act, Military, and Bereavement leave, during the work week will be counted as time worked. The Extra Weekend Spot pay may NOT be combined with the weekday Spot Pay incentive. Per Diems Spot pay may be paid before the commitment shifts are worked. Shifts that are committed and scheduled but not worked will convert to an equivalent shift paid with Spot Pay to a regular commitment shift without Spot Pay, unless the reason for not fulfilling the shifts was one of the protected leaves noted above.

Nurses who report to work and are mandatorily low censused under the contractually agreed cut rotation will receive the Extra Weekend Spot Pay Incentive for the hours they worked. Nurses who are sent home for reasons other than low census (i.e. come to work ill, or due to corrective action investigations, etc.) will receive the Extra Weekend Spot Pay for any hours worked. Nurses who are subject to low census prior to reporting to work will not receive Extra Weekend Spot Pay. Nurses who are placed on standby will not receive Extra Weekend Spot Pay. Nurses who are called back from standby will receive Extra Weekend Spot Pay for all hours worked in callback.

Pay Processing - Must be documented by the employee on exception log in pay period in which extra weekend spot pay shift is worked. Consistent, with the paycheck error language in the contract, nurses must submit a PAR for any paycheck error.

Program: Mandatory Call Incentive - Procedural Units

Rate: $250/extra call shift

Eligible units - OR; Cath Lab, GI; Interventional Radiology; others as may be approved based on need.

Approval - Activated by CNO on an as needed basis.

Mandatory Call Incentive Definition - Extra call shifts in eligible units with unfilled mandatory call shift.

Eligibility - Registered nurse who picks up an extra, unfilled mandatory call shift.

Pay Processing - Must be documented on exception log by the employee in pay period in which extra mandatory on call shift is picked up. Consistent, with the paycheck error language in the contract, nurses must submit a PAR for any paycheck error.

Additionally, we agree to extend the Extra Shift Incentive of $5.00/hour with the same duration as the incentives per this agreement.

It is management’s intention to continue to offer incentive shifts to nurses in a way in which all nurses have the opportunity to pick up the shift. Due to the nature of the urgent staffing need, overtime shifts will be approved on a first come first serve basis. Extra shifts will be assigned first to nurses not in overtime. Nurses can request open shifts in CareValue or QGenda (Periop only) and they will be granted based on our standard process. In more urgent circumstances, extra shifts will be communicated via X Matters or QGenda, for those departments currently using those systems, prior to another communication tool. Texting may be used for those who are not on the schedule for that day and have requested to be included in text messages.

Managers do not use Facebook to post incentive opportunities, this is sometimes utilized by staff nurses to ask their peers for assistance and is often successful. If you hear of any specific concerns on a specific unit, please let me know so the issue can be corrected.

Management evaluates incentives on a pay period by pay period basis and need flexibility to adjust to changing needs and will notify the union if management believes adjustments are needed providing 14 calendar days advance notice. Duration will be at the discretion of management. That said, a nurse will receive incentive pay for any shift designated as an incentive shift at the time the nurse agreed to work it - even if the shift occurs after the end of the designated incentive period. If a shift becomes incentive eligible after the nurse has committed to the extra shift , the nurse will be eligible for the approved incentive.

Questions? Contact WSNA Nurse Representative Barbara Friesen at bfriesen@wsna.org.