Delegates march to State Capital as part of PASNAP's efforts to win legislation that would ban mandatory overtime.

Mandatory Overtime & Staffing Bills before the PA House

Two bills have been introduced in the PA House that would improve patient care in Pennsylvania. The first bill would end mandatory overtime for health care workers, while the second bill would mandate specific patient-to-nurse professional staffing levels.

“No health-care professional should have to abrogate their responsibility to their patients, their families and themselves due to forced overtime or unsuitable staffing levels. This legislation put forth by the gentlemen from Elk County and Washington County will take Herculean strides toward solving this problem,” said House Minority Leader Bill DeWeese.

“We are losing our nurses,” Rep. Mike Veon said. “Some of the most dedicated people who care for patients are choosing to leave their jobs due to short-sighted mandatory overtime demands and not enough staffing. We tell a truck driver that he must rest every eight hours, but we allow nurses in critical care units to be forced to work long hours that, too often, lead to stress and possibly medical errors."

House Bill 834, Senate Bill TBA would prohibit hospitals and other health facilities from requiring nurses to accept work in excess of their regularly scheduled work shift, or in excess of 80 hours in a two-week period. Nurses would be permitted to accept overtime voluntarily, but could not be dismissed or punished for not accepting overtime.

House Bill. 171 would set specific patient-to-nurse staffing ratios based on the type of care needed in a particular hospital or care unit. Ratios would range from one-to-one in emergency room and surgical settings, down to one-to-six in postpartum and well-baby nursery units. Solobay’s legislation also includes grant programs to encourage more students to join nursing education programs. H.B. 148 was referred to the House Health and Human Services Committee.

Please use a navigation bar to the left for more info.