It appears that at present nurses are obliged to do mandatory overtime
if required:
Question: "I work at a small Catholic hospital in Illinois. I know we
have a policy that states that you can be mandated to stay over after
your shift. Is that legal? Can they make you work overtime and more
than 40 hours per week?"
Answer: "Your frustration is shared by many nurses across the country,
but federal labor law does not address this mandatory overtime
problem.
It is for this reason that you need to gather all your co-workers and
each of you should contact your representative in the House. HR 1289
was introduced by Rep. Tom Lantos et al. in March. It is called the
"Registered Nurses and Patients Protection Act."
From NurseWeek, August 30, 2001:
http://www.nurseweek.com/goodquestion/label.html
However, although there is no legal maximum to the work day, attempts
are in progress to change the situation, including the Act (HR1289)
introduced in the House of Congress by Lantos as mentioned above.
HR 1289 seeks "To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to
prohibit forced overtime hours for certain licensed health care
employees" [including nurses, but not physicians]. No one could be
forced "to work more than 8 hours in any workday or 80 hours in any
14-day work period, except in the case of a natural disaster or while
a Federal, State, or local declaration of a state of emergency is in
effect in the locality in which such employee is employed. No such
employer may discriminate or take any other adverse action against
such an employee for declining to work more than 8 hours in a workday
or 80 hours in a 14-day work period."
http://www.theorator.com/bills107/hr1289.html
HR 1289 "Official Title as Introduced:Registered Nurses and Patients
Protection Act Status: 03/29/2001: Referred to the House Committee
on Education and the Workforce. 05/30/2001: Referred to the
Subcommittee on Workforce Protections."
http://capwiz.com/govexec/issues/bills/?bill=30523&size=full
In Illinois, the Quality Health Care and Public Accountability
Act(HB3536)has been proposed. Amongst other things, it "establishes
quality health care indicators by providing for adequate staffing
based upon skills of the workers and the treatment needs of patients
and prohibits mandatory or excessive overtime for health care
workers."
The Campaign for Better Health Care has taken this up for action.
Details at http://www.cbhconline.org/fact_hb3536.htm
"CBHC is Illinois' largest health care coalition, representing
thousands of individuals and over 300 local and statewide
organizations. These organizations have a collective membership of 1.4
million members in nearly every part of the state. CBHC is viewed
nationally and throughout Illinois as the main health care coalition
in Illinois." http://www.cbhconline.org/index.htm
In the meantime, according to American Journal of Nursing - May, 2001
- Volume 101, Issue 5, "In Illinois, RNs who are state employees are
now in a strong position regarding mandatory overtime. Their state
bargaining unit negotiated a contract provision stating that after
three episodes of voluntary overtime and three occasions of mandatory
overtime per calendar quarter, nurses will be paid double-time for
additional hours worked. "Overtime demands for nurses have really gone
down," says Debbie Reed, chair of the Illinois Nurses Association
RC23, the state employees' bargaining unit. "We have the first
language of this kind anywhere in our state.""
http://www.nursingworld.org/AJN/2001/may/Issues.htm
search strategy on Google: 1. nurse, work, day, hours, Illinois; 2.
"mandatory overtime", Illinois, nurses |
