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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. James E. Casorio, Jr. |
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New law banning forced overtime for nurses now in effect
HARRISBURG, July 1 – As of today, hospitals and other health-care facilities in Pennsylvania are prohibited from forcing nurses and other health-care workers from working overtime shifts as a routine staffing procedure, said state Rep. James E. Casorio Jr., D-Westmoreland.
Casorio, who was a co-sponsor of the legislation, which the General Assembly passed in 2008, said Pennsylvania now joins 14 other states that prohibit or restrict mandatory overtime for hourly or non-supervisory health-care workers involved in direct patient care.
The state Department of Labor and Industry will enforce the law through its Bureau of Labor Law Compliance. The department has added a section to its Web site at www.dli.state.pa.us that includes information on the new law. The information can also be accessed from Casorio's Web site at www.pahouse.com/Casorio.
"This law isn't just about better working conditions for nurses, it's also about better health-care conditions for patients," Casorio said. "When nurses are overworked, tired or concerned about family commitments they are missing, there's a greater potential for mistakes that harm patients and increase health-care costs. This law will improve patient care and keep more nurses in the profession in Pennsylvania."
Casorio said it is important for health-care workers and patients to understand the new law, how it protects them, and what recourse health-care workers 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.
Casorio said the Bureau of Labor Law Compliance will develop regulations to implement the law, but will begin enforcing the law today 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. He urged 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.