Define Normal Working Hours

JulieE

Our current policy on reimbursement of travel and education expenses talks about "normal working hours." However, this is a hospital, in a rural area, and I have a few questions about how others would define:

1. Normal working hours for nurses (or others) who may work any or all shifts during a 4-week schedule.

2. Normal working hours for staff with more personally flexible hours, who some days come in at 9:00 but other days come in at 7:30, due to family needs or driving conditions.

3. Normal working hours for nurses (or others) who typically work only the night shift. My concern is that, if we define their normal working hours as 11pm - 7 am, for example, then they are not paid for time spent traveling as a passenger outside those normal working hours.

Any suggestions would be appreciated.

Hatchetman

[font size="1" color="#FF0000"]LAST EDITED ON 06-20-03 AT 01:38PM (CST)[/font][p]Sounds like you need to re-word your policy and use another or more specific phrase, perhaps addressing each group that has varying work schedules.

Or you could go with the hours that the business office is open to the public.

Don D

Or since your hours vary among people and departments, you could simply define each circumstance independent of others. Employee "X" may receive travel pay or educational reimbursement for courses or training attended during her normal working hours which might include the midnight hour or 6 a.m. or 3:00pm till 11:00pm. That may not apply to employee "Z" since he works entirely different hours, say 8:00 to 5:00. I look at it just like I do a 'standard work week' as mentioned in the FLSA. There may be no such thing as a standard work week throughout the business and it may require application depending on the employee's assignment. My week may be different from the guy's in the next office or the workers in the lab; so my week should be defined by the standards that apply to ME, not others.