Bill to Ban Mandatory overtime passed PA House Labor Committee

[NRSKarenRN, BSN, RN]

found at physician's health digest today:

a bill to ban mandatory overtime among nurses and other health caregivers passed the pa. house labor relations committee.

house bill 834 would ban mandatory overtime for all direct patient caregivers except in the case of a real emergency, and next goes before the house and the senate, reported the citizens voice. currently, no law forbids hospitals or other health care facilities in pennsylvania from ordering caregivers to keep working beyond their scheduled shift, despite recent studies that reveal excessive fatigue can impair a nurse's abilities as much as alcohol, the citizens voice added, noting that 11 other states have passed laws banning mandatory overtime, including neighboring new jersey and west virginia.

citizens voice, april 18, 2007

read on...

[max1x]

Is being forced to be "on call" and getting called in to work on your day off (thus forcing you to work beyond 40 hrs per week) considered mandatory overtime? I tend to think it is, since 1) it's mandatory, and 2) it's overtime.

The hospital where I work in Philly is planning to force us to do this. This is not to cover "emergencies" but is being done simply because it is cheaper to force the staff to work overtime than using pool or agency nurses to cover holes in the schedule. My nurse managed told me this when I pressed her for a straight answer about why this is being done.

We will not even be paid for being on call. We will be paid only if we are called in to work.

[nancykday]

Is being forced to be "on call" and getting called in to work on your day off (thus forcing you to work beyond 40 hrs per week) considered mandatory overtime? I tend to think it is, since 1) it's mandatory, and 2) it's overtime.

The hospital where I work in Philly is planning to force us to do this. This is not to cover "emergencies" but is being done simply because it is cheaper to force the staff to work overtime than using pool or agency nurses to cover holes in the schedule. My nurse managed told me this when I pressed her for a straight answer about why this is being done.

We will not even be paid for being on call. We will be paid only if we are called in to work.[/quote

THIS IS MANDATORY OVERTIME! Anything that forces you to be tetther to your job on your off time is MOT. You should be compensated for your forced on call hours. Unfortunetly management utulizes forced OT to staff there facilities. Chronic understaffing is not the workers responsibility but is is made to be our problem b/c of MOT. Until there is legislation to prevent MOT we as nurses will continue to be abused by management. All of us needs to call our State reps and senators and demand that they paas this legislation for our patients and ourselves. and encourage our friends and families to call also

[max1x]

Thanks for the reply Nancy. You're darn right it is mandatory overtime, and the fact that it is being done merely to cover holes in the schedule and call outs makes me feel I need a shot of compazine, cause I just want to vomit!!

IMO it is not a coincidence that this is being done at a time when many staff have quit (or been fired by our battle-axe of a DON, but that's another story). I'm sure management has been running the numbers, and they have figured out that if they have to fill all the holes in the schedule with pool nurses this will put them way over budget. So they plan to fix their budgetary problems by placing yet another burden on the staff nurses!

BTW, this is the same hospital that (in management's infinite wisdom) began admitting pts from the ER to the hallway on med-surg floors. I kid you not, pts were admitted to the HALLWAY!!! to clear out the ER in a timely fashion to improve their Press-Gainey scores!!! We had to care for pts on a stretcher in the hallway, until a real bed was available.

Fortunately someone called the state health dept., and management was forced to change their evil ways.