|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
|
State
Rep. Bill Kortz |
|
Ban on forced overtime for health-care workers takes effect July 1
HARRISBURG, June 30 – State Rep. Bill Kortz, D-Allegheny, said that as of Wednesday, hospitals and other health-care facilities in Pennsylvania will be prohibited from forcing nurses and other health-care workers from working overtime shifts as a routine staffing procedure.
"This new law protects not only our nurses, but our patients as well," Kortz said. "Nurses and other health-care workers provide the bulk of care to patients in hospitals and other health-care facilities, and this ban on mandatory overtime ensures a better work environment for health-care workers – which also helps retain these valuable employees – and safer care for patients."
Kortz co-sponsored the legislation last year as it passed through the House and was signed into law by the governor. Kortz said the state Department of Labor and Industry will enforce the law, now known as Act 102 of 2008, through its Bureau of Labor Law Compliance.
As of July 1, Pennsylvania will join 14 other states that prohibit or restrict mandatory overtime for hourly or non-supervisory health-care workers involved in direct patient care or clinical care services.
Kortz said it is important for health-care workers to understand the new law, how it protects them, and what recourse they have if the law is not being followed.
Act 102 prohibits health-care facilities in Pennsylvania from requiring health-care workers from working in excess of their agreed-to, pre-determined and regularly scheduled work shift. The law also prohibits health-care facilities from retaliating in any way against nurses and other health-care workers who do not agree to work overtime.
The law makes exceptions for emergencies such an unforeseeable declared national, state or municipal emergency; highly unusual or extraordinary events which are unpredictable and which substantially affect the provision of or need for health-care services, such as terrorism, a natural disaster or widespread disease outbreak; unexpected absences discovered at or before the start of a scheduled shift which could not be prudently planned for and which could significantly affect patient safety; and for instances where workers must stay to complete a patient care procedure already under way. The law also does not prohibit a health-care worker from agreeing voluntarily to work overtime.
Kortz said the Bureau of Labor Law Compliance will develop regulations to implement the law, but will begin enforcing the law on July 1 regardless of whether the regulations have been fully established. Under the law, the department may require corrective action and impose administrative fines of up to $1,000 on a health-care facility for each violation.
Kortz said he urges nurses and other health-care workers, as well as health-care facility administrators, to visit the Labor and Industry Web site for more information on Act 102, its implementation and their rights under the new law. The Department's Web site is www.dli.state.pa.us; click on the "Act 102 - Prohibition of Excessive Overtime in Health Care Act" link.