Ban on mandatory OT for nurses becomes Pa. law 7/1/09

all fixed

Excellent! I'm so glad to hear that PA nurses are now afforded the same kind of labor rights that other professionals are entitled to!

It's about damn time that nurses were recognized as skilled professionals and not just laborers that can be burdened with more and more tasks and hours.

You can overwork a salesman and the worst that will happen is productivity will go down; overwork a nurse on the other hand and lives are at stake.

Hurray for Pennsylvania. Thanks for posting the link. I hope that we soon see this in all 50 states. I've always viewed mandatory overtime as the result of poor planning, even poorer leadership, and general apathy for employees and patients.

It is still going to happen in LTC, esp the smaller ones. The only person left to come in is most often the DON or RNAC. yeah...

I see people filling out alot of complaint forms.

Hopefully this means there will be jobs for new grads. The hospitals here are chronically understaffed and not hiring.

If I'm not mistaken, the Kentucky BON recommends that nuses work no more than 16 hrs at a stretch. I have done that a few times, even as an agency nurse when the hospitals were paying me a lot to be there.

DON'T ALLOW them to. Stand up for yourselves. Sitting down, playing the silent card will get no where.

Hello: Act 102 in Penssylvania does not apply to nursing agencies. How do I know? I was terminated from VNA Community Care Services which is affiliated with Lancaster General Hospital for supposedly "poor time mangement." I worked until 0430 am on a Saturday evening, then had to be ready for work the following morning at o8oo. I was given an extremely unreasonable patient assigment workload. It would have been impossible to get the work done in even 12 hours, much less 8 hours. When I was being terminated, I was told by my supervisor and the asst. director of nursing that they "were sorry about this. We both think you are an excellent nurse."" The VNA is a homecare agency and because they are not an institution, they are exempt from the law as the law is written in Pennsylvania. Please write, call or email Governor Ed Rendell and the representtives and senators in Pennsylvania and tell them we need to have the law amended and grandfathered to include nursing agencies and all employers on healthcare services so that patients and care providers can be protedted, regardless of the location where the care is given. PLease share this with other nurses. Isn't safety important everywhere?

Anyone who reads these posts about the ban on mandatory overtime, ACT 102 in Pennsylvania please help. The law needs to be amended to include all nursing agencies and employers of healthcare services. I was terminated form my position at a homecare agency in Lancaster, PA and informed by the human resources manager that they are exempt form the law because they are not an institution as defined in ACT 102. Please everyone, write, call or email Governor Rendell and the legislators and senators in Pennsylvania. Ask them to amend this law and grandfather in all nursing agencies and employers who provide any type of health care services. Exhausted nurses have a great deal of difficulty providing safe, optimal care to patients. Please help to get this law amended so that patients and staff are safe. Yes, we can be strong patient advocates. But we need to advocate for ourselves also. thank you.

Soory about the typos. I actually do know how to spell. Please help by writing to the governor, representatives, senators in PA. Then please share this with others. Thanks