AB 840, as introduced, Ridley-Thomas. Nurses and certified nurse assistants: overtime.
The State Civil Service Act generally requires the workweek of state employees to be 40 hours, and the workday of state employees to be 8 hours. Under the act, it is the policy of the state to avoid the necessity for overtime work whenever possible.
This bill, commencing January 1, 2017, would prohibit a nurse or Certified Nursing Assistant (CNA), as defined, employed by the State of California in a specified type of facility from being compelled to work in excess of the regularly scheduled workweek or work shift, except under certain circumstances. The bill would authorize a nurse or CNA to volunteer or agree to work hours in addition to his or her regularly scheduled workweek or work shift, but the refusal to accept those additional hours would not constitute patient abandonment or neglect or be grounds for discrimination, dismissal, discharge, or any other penalty or employment decision adverse to the nurse or CNA.
This bill would make a related statement of legislative intent.
Vote: majority. Appropriation: no. Fiscal committee: yes. State-mandated local program: no.
The people of the State of California do enact as follows:
It is the intent of the Legislature to ensure that
2there is a process that management and supervisors in a state health
3care facility are required to follow to avoid on-the-spot mandatory
4overtime of any nurse or certified nursing assistant (CNA) whose
5regularly scheduled work shift is complete, and to prevent
6circumstances where an employee is stopped at the gate of, for
7example, a Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation and
8California Correctional Health Care Services facility, and is
9instructed to return to work at the end of the employee’s regularly
10scheduled work shift. It is the intent of the Legislature to prohibit
11a state facility that employs nurses or CNAs from using mandatory
12overtime as a scheduling tool, or as an excuse for fulfilling an
13
operational need that results from a management failure to properly
14staff those state facilities.
Section 19851.2 is added to the Government Code, to
16read:
(a) As used in this section:
18(1) “Nurse” means all classifications of registered nurses
19represented by State Bargaining Unit 17, or the Licensed
20Vocational Nurse classifications represented by State Bargaining
21Unit 20.
22(2) “CNA” means all Certified Nursing Assistant classifications
23represented by State Bargaining Unit 20.
24(3) “Facility” means any facility that provides clinically related
25health services that is operated by the Division of Correctional
26Health Care Services of the Department of Corrections and
27Rehabilitation, the Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation,
28
the State Department of State Hospitals, the Department of Veteran
29Affairs, or the State Department of Developmental Services in
30which a nurse or CNA works as an employee of the state.
31(4) “Emergency situation” means any of the following:
32(A) An unforeseeable declared national, state, or municipal
33emergency.
34(B) A highly unusual or extraordinary event that is unpredictable
35or unavoidable and that substantially affects providing needed
36health care services or increases the need for health care services,
37which includes any of the following:
38(i) An act of terrorism.
P3 1(ii) A natural disaster.
2(iii) A widespread disease outbreak.
3(iv) A warden, superintendent, or executive director-declared
4emergency, or severe emergency that necessitates the assistance
5of an outside agency.
6(b) A facility shall not require a nurse or CNA to work in excess
7of a regularly scheduled workweek or work shift. A nurse or CNA
8may volunteer or agree to work hours in addition to his or her
9regularly scheduled workweek or work shift but the refusal by a
10nurse or CNA to accept those additional hours shall not constitute
11either of the following:
12(1) Grounds for discrimination, dismissal, discharge, or any
13other penalty or employment decision adverse to the nurse or CNA.
14(2) Patient abandonment or neglect, except under circumstances
15provided for in the Nursing Practice Act (Chapter 6 (commencing
16
with Section 2700) of Division 2 of the Business and Professions
17Code).
18(c) This section shall not apply in any of the following situations:
19(1) To a nurse or CNA participating in a surgical procedure in
20which the nurse is actively engaged and whose continued presence
21through the completion of the procedure is needed to ensure the
22health and safety of the patient.
23(2) If a catastrophic event occurs in a facility and both of the
24following factors apply:
25(A) The catastrophic event results in such a large number of
26patients in need of immediate medical treatment that the facility
27is incapable of providing sufficient nurses or CNAs to attend to
28the patients without resorting to mandatory overtime.
29(B) The catastrophic event is an unanticipated and nonrecurring
30event.
31(3) If an emergency situation occurs.
32(d) Nothing in this section shall be construed to affect the
33Nursing Practice Act (Chapter 6 (commencing with Section 2700)
34of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code), the Vocational
35Nursing Practice Act (Chapter 6.5 (commencing with Section
362840) of Division 2 of the Business and Professions Code), or a
37registered nurse’s duty under the standards of competent
38performance.
39(e) Nothing in this section shall be construed to preclude a
40facility from hiring part-time or intermittent employees.
P4 1(f) Nothing in this section shall prevent a facility from providing
2employees with more protections against mandatory overtime than
3the
minimum protections established pursuant to this section.
4(g) This section shall become operative on January 1, 2017.
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