Medical Center leadership answers the tough questions about what the elevate program is and what it means for the people who work at VUMC.
Question: Some staff members have scheduled 12-hour shifts. When they take a holiday or personal day they are only compensated for 7.2 hours and must take vacation time to fill out their shift. Can this be changed so that staff on required 12-hour shifts get full compensation for these days?
Answer: Benefit time must be administered consistently for all staff. Leave time is prorated based on hours worked. A day of benefit time is defined as one-fifth of the staff member's regularly scheduled workweek. Excluding overtime, the maximum number of regular hours in a workweek is 40.
An individual working 40 hours would be eligible for eight hours of holiday (one-fifth of 40 hours). In order to maintain consistency, an individual working 36 hours would be eligible for 7.2 hours of holiday (one-fifth of 36 hours).
If the individual scheduled to work 36 hours (three 12-hour shifts) were to receive 12 hours for a holiday, he/she would get more paid holiday time than an individual scheduled to work 40 hours.
— Lenon Coleman, interim chief human resource officer