Mandatory overtime for nurses now banned in Pa.

[Omaha Steve]

http://www.philly.com/philly/business/homepage/20090706_Mandatory_overtime_for_nurses_now_banned_in_Pa_.html

Posted on Mon, Jul. 6, 2009

By Bill Toland

Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

There were no parades or fireworks Wednesday, but July 1 was the independence day that so many nurses and hospital caregivers had hoped and battled for. Among those many was Lois Cusick of Mt. Lebanon, who has worked at UPMC's Western Psychiatric Institute & Clinic for 26 years.

She, and all other nurses and caregivers in the state, are now largely immune from management requests to work "mandatory overtime," the extra hours, nurses say, that frequently were tacked on the end of already long hospital shifts, jeopardizing patient care and making it tough to keep quality nurses.

"This is a huge win. I've been a nurse for 30 years. I raised three children doing in-patient nursing," Ms. Cusick said. "There were so many times I couldn't go home at the end of my work shift."

For much of the decade, nurses and the Service Employees International Union have been lobbying for a change in state law that would restrict hospitals' ability to force nurses and support staff to work overtime hours. Fourteen other states have similar laws and regulations on the books.

Pennsylvania's law was signed by the governor last fall, and went into effect on Wednesday. "Seven years we've been fighting for this," said Deb Bonn, director of the Nurse Alliance of SEIU Pennsylvania

Now, "when they go to work in the morning, they know what time they are getting out."

FULL story at link.

[pleah]

1. K&R

[bananas]

2. That's good news for nurses and patients too. nt

[checks-n-balances]

4. A victory for workers and consumers (ordinary people)?

What is this world coming to, anyway?
:sarcasm:

[nightrain]

3. excellent news. Nurses deserve to be able to say NO!!

[paulsby]

5. my state allows mandatory overtime for cops

just for the record, among other things, it is MUCH cheaper to pay cops overtime, than to staff to the extent that it's not ever necesasrily mandatoried. paying time and a half is actually cheaper than staffing more people, because even if you are paying those people straight time, all the benefits costs, recruiting costs, training costs, etc. outstrip the extra 1/2 per hour you pay somebody already working.

our union did an analysis and estimated that if our dept. staffed to the extent that they never mandatoried overtime, it would cost the taxpayers at least 30% more in the police budget.

fortunately, our dept. has enough overtime sluts that mandatorying somebody doesn't happen TOO often because the sluts scoop up the OT when offered. i know guys who make well into 6 figures.