News

October 9, 2008

Nursing OT bill advances to governor

State legislators approve ban of mandatory overtime for nurses.

By Jerry Lynott jlynott@timesleader.com
Business Writer
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Legislation banning mandatory overtime for nurses and other employees involved in direct care of patients awaits the governor’s signature after the state House of Representatives on Wednesday unanimously approved the bill.

The Prohibition of Excessive Overtime in Health Care Act will go into effect on July 1, 2009, pending its signing by Gov. Ed Rendell.

“He is expected to sign it,” said Chuck Ardo, a spokesman for the governor.

The state Senate amended the bill and approved it by a 49-0 vote on Tuesday. The next day the House concurred and passed it by a vote of 189-11.

“That speaks tons,” said Deb Bonn, a registered nurse in the recovery room at Geisinger South Wilkes-Barre.

“I do commend our legislators and governor for listening to nurses and listening to patients and for taking the step forward” to pass the law, Bonn said.

She called the law “overdue,” adding the government has been regulating the amount of time pilots can fly and the hours for bus and truck drivers and train engineers.

Bonn, a nurse for 30 years, said she and other members of the Service Employees International Union-1199 had been campaigning for legislation for seven years.

The law not only provides relief for health-care workers, but patients as well by reducing the possibility of errors committed by fatigued nurses, she said.

“I see the passage of this bill as being great for patient care,” Bonn said. “It’s going to increase the number of nurses at the bed side.”

Many nurses left the profession because of mandatory overtime, she said.

The issue was one of the reasons for the 21-day strike by nurses at Wilkes-Barre General Hospital in 2003, said Bill Cruice, director of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals. The union represents nurses at the hospital.

The strike raised the profile of mandatory overtime, Cruice said, and studies were done that showed a negative impact on patient care. As a result, hospitals began to seriously curb their use of mandatory overtime.

“In Northeastern Pennsylvania the practice has subsided. It’s not eliminated, but it’s subsided,” Cruice said.

Geisinger Health System does not use overtime as “an ongoing staffing strategy,” said Susan Hallick, its executive vice president and chief nursing office.

“At Geisinger, with the input of our staff, we have incentive programs in place that encourage proactive, voluntary planning for OT when OT is absolutely necessary,” Hallick said in a prepared statement.

The health care system’s goal, she added, is to provide “the highest quality care to our patients while supporting scheduling and work hours that produce work-life balance for our staff.”

The law states a “health-care facility may not require an employee to work in excess of an agreed to, pre-determined and regularly scheduled daily work shift.”

Employees can still volunteer to work beyond their regular shifts, Bonn pointed out. “Who is better to decide our own physical limits than the person themself,” she said.

The law has provisions that allow employees time to arrange for care of family members if overtime is the result of “an unforeseen emergent circumstance.” In addition, employees who work more than 12 hours per day are entitled to have at least 10 consecutive hours off.

Bonn said the rest time is critical. “I’ve done back-to-back 16 (hour shifts), not all of them mandatory.” But in between she would go home and get six hours of rest.

The law further gives enforcement authority to the state Department of Labor and Industry, which can levy fines between $100 and $1,000 for each violation.

Jerry Lynott, a Times Leader staff writer, can be contacted at 570 829-7237.

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