MNA Labor Cabinet helps draft federal proposal
Bill would ban mandatory overtime for health care workers

Mandatory overtime for licensed health care employees (excluding physicians) would be prohibited under a bill introduced in the U.S. House of Representatives last month by U.S. Reps. Tom Lantos (D-Calif.) and James McGovern (D-Mass.). The legislation recognizes the growing danger to patient safety posed by forced overtime practices in hospitals nationwide.

The MNA Cabinet for Labor Relations was among a number of nursing groups who worked with Congressman McGovern in drafting the legislation. The bill was endorsed by the MNA Board of at its September meeting and has also won the support of the American Nurses Association.

At least 1,720 hospital patients have been accidentally killed and 9,584 other injured since 1995 because of the actions or inaction of registered nurses across the country, according to an investigative report by the Chicago Tribune, which attributed the problem to cuts in staff and other belt-tightening in U.S. hospitals.

In recent months, mandatory overtime has been a major factor in lengthy, high-profile nurses' strikes in Massachusetts, California and New York, and has been a rallying cry for exhausted RNs and other health care workers across the nation.

The Lantos-McGovern bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to bar mandatory overtime beyond 8 hours in a work day or 80 hours in any 14 day work period, except in the case of a natural disaster or in the event of a declaration of emergency by federal, state or local government officials. Voluntary overtime is also exempted. "Our bill would give nurses the relief they need," Lantos said. "America's nurses put their hearts and souls into caring for individuals and their families. We need to ensure that they have time to care for their families as well. It's inhumane the way hospitals treat nurses."

McGovern pointed to a recent 49-day strike at St. Vincent/Worcester Medical Center in Massachusetts, where mandatory overtime was the primary issue that led more than 600 nurses to walk out. "Health care professionals have drawn the line against mandatory overtime, and for good reason," he said. "No one should be asked to work the kind of hours that jeopardizes patient care."

"No patient deserves a nurse in her fifteenth or sixteenth hour working, especially after she has said ‘I can't do this,'" said Sandy Ellis, RN, of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, who was among those who struck at St. Vincent. "If you are forced to do it, your license is not protected and you've been mandated to put your patients at risk."

"Hospitals across the nation are requiring nurses to work overtime on a regular basis," said Jill Furillo, RN, national outreach coordinator for the California Nurses Association. "Nurses frequently complain that at the end of their shift, they no longer have the stamina and mental alertness to deliver the quality of care patients need."

"Forced overtime is a prescription for disaster," said Teri Evans, RN, president of the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals. "Patients are placed at greater risk when the professionals caring for them are exhausted and not sufficiently alert. Increased medication errors and errors in judgment result."

Rosalind Hunter, RN, a Contra Costa County (Calif.) Regional Medical Center nurse, points to the "horrible staffing situations" and the "abuse of mandatory overtime" by California hospitals. "If this (ban on mandatory overtime) becomes law, I predict it will be a real lifesaver for both nurses and patients."

Mandatory overtime actually has contributed to the national nursing shortage, Furillo added, pointing to surveys and anecdotal reports showing that nurses are refusing to work in hospitals with unsafe conditions, including when they are forced to work unplanned overtime hours. "Without a curb on this reckless practice, more nurses will leave the profession and we will experience a deeper and longer-term nursing shortage," Furillo said.

Along with the MNA, this bill was initiated by the following nursing organizations: California Nurses Association, Maine State Nurses and Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals .

Already signing on in support of this bill are: Reps. Robert Brady (D-Penn.), Luis Gutierrez (D-Ill.), Moakley (D-Mass.), Grace Napolitano (D-Calif.), Barney Frank (D-Mass.), Bob Filner (D-Calif.) and Juanita Millender-McDonald (D-Calif.).