shahine.com/omar/

As if this was a shocker, SFgate has an article on the city payroll.

San Francisco General Hospital police Sgt. Eric Cranston, who earned a $63,715 base salary last year, added $126,644 by working 2,556 extra hours. Anene Ugbaja, a security officer at the hospital earning a $56,979 base, worked 2,930 overtime hours for $122,126 in time-and-a-half pay.

I find this unbelievable. Why? Cause my wife is a Resident and employed by the State of California and the City of San Francisco. She gets paid a ridiculously low salary (far far less than the security officer's base pay) and works on average 80 hours a week. In fact, the federal government had to step in and mandate that any hospital that has residents working greater than an average of 80 hours per week would be in violation (yes that means she can work 90 hours one week, 70 the next, etc and still pass). So, she doesn't get overtime pay even though the city pays her based on an hourly rate of 40 hours per week (M-F 9-5). So, every hour that she is required by her program to work she is effectively not getting paid.

Oh, and did I mention, she works in a profession where the life of a patient is in her care? I really don't understand how a society that values the lives of it's individuals so much can afford to treat residents like this. Meanwhile, the security officer at SF general is earning quite a nice living on my dime.

I could go on about how Residents in this country are screwed each and every day. Not only are they usually carrying about $200,000 in debt, they typically can't pay off that debt till after their 3-6 year residencies where they get paid less than most any other municipal employee (and way less than nurses). They are essentially carrying this royally screwed up health care system forward and paying for the millions of uninsured Americans (the burden almost always falls on them).