FROM: State Rep. Don Walko, D-North Side

TO: Editor

DATE: May 28, 2008

MEDIA CONTACT: Ben Turner, 717-787-7895, bturner@pahouse.net

State Representative Don Walko Reports:

A year later, Pa. patients, nurses wait for Senate action on mandatory overtime ban

Countless health-care workers and nurses in Pennsylvania are working stressful 16-hour days and 80-hour weeks. This drives up error rates and accidents, harming patients and raising health-care costs for everyone. It also forces many nurses into other lines of work and discourages many people from becoming nurses.

That's why I strongly supported and voted for a bill that would ban mandatory overtime for nurses and other many health-care workers. House Bill 834 would block hospitals and other health-care facilities from routinely requiring nurses and other employees, besides doctors, who provide direct patient care to work beyond a regular shift that has already been agreed upon.

While nurses and other employees could volunteer for extra shifts or overtime, it could not be required by the hospital, and nurses and other employees who refuse overtime could not be disciplined, discharged or discriminated against for that reason.

This bill passed the House 166-31 last May. Since then, however, the Republican-controlled Senate has refused even to move this bill out of committee.

Meanwhile, Pennsylvania nurses are still being disciplined and even fired when they won't or can't work multiple shifts – even at a moment's notice. Mandatory overtime is unfair to nurses and their families, and it's dangerous for the patients they care for.

Pennsylvania hospitals can be staffed without relying on mandatory overtime. Other states have banned the practice, and it is already prohibited in some Pennsylvania hospitals and health-care systems. In these places, hospitals are still open and patients are receiving quality care.

If you would like to help in the fight to ban mandatory overtime for nurses, please use my Web site – www.pahouse.com/Walko -- to send a message to your senator.

If you have questions on a state-related issue or subject, please call my office at 412-321-5523.