MNA Lauds Introduction of Federal Bill to Ban Mandatory Overtime

Legislation Is Designed to Assure Quality of Patient Care

The Massachusetts Nurses Association yesterday participated in a press conference announcing the introduction of federal legislation to prohibit mandatory overtime for licensed health care employees (excluding physicians). Sponsors of the legislation said it would crack down on the increasing trend of hospitals to require nurses to work overtime shifts, and this will help improve the quality of patient care because nurse fatigue resulting from forced overtime work is a serious threat to patient safety.

The bill, entitled The Registered Nurses and Patients Protection Act, was unveiled at a Washington D.C. press conference held on March 29 attended by Members of Congress Tom Lantos (D-CA), James McGovern (D-MA), and Hilda Solis (D-CA) and representatives of the Massachusetts Nurses Association, California Nurses Associations and the Pennsylvania Association of Staff Nurses and Allied Professionals, three groups that consulted with the Congressmen on the language for the bill.

MNA's Sandy Ellis, co-chair of the MNA's Congress on Health Policy and Legislation as well as a leader of the landmark St. Vincent Hospital/Worcester Medical Center nurses' 49-day strike over the issue, represented the MNA and addressed the media concerning the bill. The complete text of her remarks, along with those of Congressman James McGovern can be found at the end of this email message.

"The use of mandatory overtime for nurses has caused a public health crisis in this country. It is unconscionable that, in this healthcare environment when nurses must care for more patients and hospitalized patients are sicker than ever before, it is demanded we work forced 12, 14, and even 16-hour shifts," Ellis told the national press corps. "Would any person want his own mother or child cared for by a bleary-eyed, exhausted nurse who is forced to be at work against her will? Cared for by a nurse who because of her exhaustion, because she has already worked her scheduled shift didn't notice that Mom's breathing is a bit more labored than it was an hour ago? If the nurse weren't so exhausted, she may have picked up that cue and maybe Mom's congestive heart failure might have been prevented."

"Too often, our health care system is based on the bottom line, on profits rather than patients. Health care companies can save money by forcing people to work brutal hours. But those savings come with a real and disturbing cost: the increased likelihood of medical errors. Quite simply, that is just too high a price to pay," said Congressman McGovern, who played a pivotal role in supporting the St. Vincent nurses throughout their strike. "Recently, my hometown of Worcester experienced a very difficult strike by the nurses at St. Vincent's hospital. Over 600 nurses stood firm and stood together against mandatory overtime. In the end, they won. But more importantly, their patients won. Their patients won the right to treatment from a nurse who hasn't been on his or her feet for 16 hours. Their patients won the right to safe, effective health care. That was the real victory in Worcester, and that is our goal with this legislation.

The Lantos-McGovern-Solis bill amends the Fair Labor Standards Act to bar mandatory overtime beyond 8 hours in a single 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.

"This legislation is not just a labor law, but even more importantly, a patient safety issue," Ellis said. "It will also help to protect the liability of nurses who put their licenses to practice in jeopardy, every time they are forced to work when they feel too tired to do so safely. Truck drivers, pilots, and postal workers have limits on the amount of hours that they can work. But nurses who bear the responsibility of caring for patients whose lives are in their hands do not. This legislation will change that."

"We need to give nurses more power to decide when overtime hours hurt their job performance," said Lantos. "A nurse knows better than anyone—better than his or her supervisor and certainly better than a profit-driven hospital administrator—when he or she is so exhausted that continuing to work could jeopardize the safety of patients. You don't have to be a brain surgeon to know that forcing nurses to work 12 or 16 hours at a time is a prescription for bad health care."

Click here to read Sandy Ellis, RN's remarks at WDC press conference

Click here to read statement of Congressman McGovern