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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE |
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State
Rep. Robert E. Belfanti, Jr. |
  
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Legislature votes to ban mandatory overtime for nurses
HARRISBURG, Oct. 9 – Nurses and other health-care workers that provide direct patient care could no longer be forced to work overtime under legislation that has passed the House and Senate and is on its way to Gov. Ed Rendell for his signature, said state Rep. Robert E. Belfanti Jr.
Belfanti, who as chairman of the House Labor Relations Committee played a major role in getting the legislation passed in that chamber and in working with the Senate to get the bill to the governor's desk, said the bill allows hospitals to require overtime for health-care workers only in specific emergencies or in cases of unanticipated staff shortages when patient safety could be compromised. It also would allow nurses and other health-care workers to volunteer for overtime. However, nurses and other direct patient care workers could not be fired or disciplined for refusing overtime.
The bill applies to nurses employed by state and local governments, as well as private hospitals and other health-care facilities.
"In too many hospitals, forced overtime is being used as a routine strategy for staffing nurses," Belfanti said. "This compromises patient safety and, in the long run, adds cost to the health-care system by increasing the risk of medial mistakes.
"Ending forced overtime for nurses will take the pressure of the health-care workers who have the most direct contact with patients, and may help to attract new nurses – and former nurses who have left – back to the profession."
Belfanti said a survey by the American Nurses Association showed that half of nurses reported working as much as 10 hours beyond their normal work week, and nearly one in five said they work between 60 hours and 80 hours almost every week. In many cases, these nurses were told they had to work overtime with little or no notice.
"Mandatory overtime is a dangerous staffing strategy," Belfanti said. "Many other states have already banned it; it is past time for Pennsylvania to do the same, not just for our nurses and other health-care workers, but for their patients, as well."
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