|
|
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
|
CONTACT: Michael J.
Herzing |
State Rep. Dan Surra |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Surra introduces worker protection measures
HARRISBURG, March 2 – State Rep. Dan Surra has reintroduced legislation that would protect workers in Pennsylvania from being forced to work long hours without breaks or excessive mandatory overtime.
“There are many people in Pennsylvania working long hours just to make ends meet but who still need time for their families or for other interests and activities,” Surra said. “Forcing workers to work all day without a break, or to work so many hours in a week that they have time for little else except eating and sleeping is not healthy for workers, not healthy for their families and, in the long run, not healthy for our communities.”
One of Surra’s bills (H.B. 632) would require employers to provide workers with a minimum 30-minute rest period after they have worked five hours. The measure would not apply to police officers, firefighters, EMTs or other first responders.
“Many people are under the impression that there already is a law requiring a lunch hour or rest period after so many hours of work,” Surra said. “Lots of workers in Pennsylvania can tell you that there is no such law.
“While most employers do provide a lunch hour and regular rest periods for workers, I believe all should be required to do so, especially when workers are working five hours at a time or more,” he said. “It makes sense for both employees and their employers; surely a worker’s effectiveness, focus and productivity drop off quickly after so many hours on the job without a break.”
A second bill introduced by Surra (H.B. 633) would give workers the right to refuse overtime in excess of eight hours in a week if they have already worked 40 hours that week. An employee who refuses overtime in excess of eight hours could not be fired or disciplined for doing so.
“There are many workers in Pennsylvania who are forced to work as many as 50, 60 or more hours a week, week after week, and who know if they refuse, they could lose their jobs,” Surra said. “These workers, many of them parents, miss important moments in their kids’ lives and other family time. When they finally do have a day off, they are so exhausted all they want to do is sleep.”
“This kind of excessive overtime, particularly when it isn’t voluntary, is not just unhealthy and unfair for workers and their families, it’s also dangerous,” he said. “Pennsylvania should protect the right of its working men and women to keep their jobs without having to trade their health and the rest of their lives for that privilege.”
###mjh/2007/bt
l:\print\releases\workerhoursintro.075