House Democrats lead effort to stop mandatory overtime for Pa. nurses 

With countless health-care workers and nurses in the Commonwealth working stressful 16-hour days and 80-hour weeks, error rates and accidents are guaranteed to rise. Nurses don't study and train only to meet the lowest of standards and patients don't want to be placed in danger.

H.B. 834 would ban mandatory overtime for nurses and other direct patient care workers. It would prohibit 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. The Senate Labor and Industry Committee amended the bill to exclude extraordinary emergencies.

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.

We need to meet higher standards for quality of care. Tell your state senator and the leaders who control the voting schedule to join the fight to ban mandatory overtime by passing this vital piece of legislation!