BILL ANALYSIS �
AB 2155
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ASSEMBLY THIRD READING
AB 2155 (Ridley-Thomas)
As Introduced February 20, 2014
Majority vote
PUBLIC EMPLOYEES 5-1 APPROPRIATIONS 12-5
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|Ayes:|Bonta, Jones-Sawyer, |Ayes:|Gatto, Bocanegra, |
| |Rendon, Ridley-Thomas, | |Bradford, |
| |Wieckowski | |Ian Calderon, Campos, |
| | | |Eggman, Gomez, Holden, |
| | | |Pan, Quirk, |
| | | |Ridley-Thomas, Weber |
| | | | |
|-----+--------------------------+-----+--------------------------|
|Nays:|Allen |Nays:|Bigelow, Donnelly, Jones, |
| | | |Linder, Wagner |
| | | | |
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SUMMARY : Prohibits mandatory overtime for state nurses and
certified nursing assistants, except under certain
circumstances. Specifically, this bill :
1)Defines a "nurse" as all classifications of registered nurses
represented by State Bargaining Unit (BU) 17, or the Licensed
Vocational Nurse classifications represented by BU 20.
2)Defines a "certified nursing assistant" (CNA) as all CNA
classifications represented by BU 20.
3)Defines a "facility" as a mental hospital, youth or adult
correctional facility, developmental center, veteran's home,
school, or worksite in which a nurse or CNA works as an
employee of the state.
4)Prohibits a facility from requiring a nurse or CNA to work in
excess of a regularly scheduled workweek or work shift, except
as provided.
5)Authorizes a nurse or CNA to volunteer to work extra hours,
but the refusal by a nurse or CNA to work such hours shall not
be grounds for discrimination, dismissal, discharge or other
penalty.
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6)Provides that the overtime prohibition does not apply in the
following situations:
a) To any nurse or CNA participating in a surgical
procedure until that procedure is completed; or,
b) If a catastrophic event occurs in a facility where both
of the following apply:
i) The catastrophic event results in such a large
number of patients in need of immediate medical treatment
that the facility is incapable of providing sufficient
nurses or CNAs to attend to the patients without
resorting to mandatory overtime; and,
ii) The catastrophic event is an unanticipated and
nonrecurring event.
7)Specifies that nothing in these provisions shall be construed
to affect the Nursing Practice Act, the Vocational Nursing
Practice Act, or a registered nurse's duty under the standards
of competent performance.
EXISTING LAW :
1)Establishes, as the general policy of the state, the workweek
of state employees to be 40 hours, and the workday of state
employees eight hours, except that workweeks and workdays of a
different number of hours may be established in order to meet
the varying needs of the different state agencies.
2)States that it is the policy of the state to avoid the
necessity for overtime work whenever possible. This policy
does not restrict the extension of regular working-hour
schedules on an overtime basis in those activities and
agencies where it is necessary to carry on the state business
properly during a manpower shortage.
FISCAL EFFECT : According to the Assembly Appropriations
Committee:
Annual General Fund (GF) costs greater than $3 million to the
Department of State Hospitals (DSH) and the Department of
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Corrections and Rehabilitation (DCR) to hire additional nurses
to cover the hours currently worked as mandatory overtime;
additional GF costs likely to hire additional CNAs.
For example, annual GF costs to DSH of approximately $1.2
million based on the following:
1)During 2013, registered nurses and licensed vocational nurses
worked approximately 54,000 mandatory overtime hours at total
cost of overtime pay of approximately $2.3 million.
2)Covering the 54,000 hours previously worked as mandatory
overtime would require DSH to hire approximately 27.5
additional full-time nurses at an estimated annual cost of
$3.5 million, with the difference representing the net cost to
the department.
COMMENTS : According to the author, "Mandatory overtime is the
practice of hospitals and health care institutions to maintain
adequate numbers of staff nurses through forced overtime,
usually with a total of twelve to sixteen hours worked, and with
as little as one hour's notice. This bill seeks to ban
mandatory overtime for public sector RNs, LVNs, and CNAs. The
use of mandatory overtime for nurses in the private sector has
been banned since 2001 through wage orders from the Industrial
Welfare Commission. State and public sector nurses were
exempted from this order".
"Mandatory overtime may cause or lead to increased stress on the
job, less patient comfort and mental and physical fatigue that
can contribute to errors and 'near-misses' with medications and
case-related procedures. The practice of mandatory overtime
ignores the responsibilities nurses may have at home with
children, other family members, or other obligations. Being
forced into excessive overtime can cause an exhausted RN to
practice unsafe patient care, jeopardizing her nursing licensure
status."
According to information provided by the author, the states of
West Virginia, Illinois, Connecticut, Washington, Oregon, New
Jersey, Minnesota, Maine, Maryland, Alaska and Massachusetts all
have laws prohibiting the use of mandatory overtime as a general
staffing tool.
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The author concludes, "AB 2155 is needed to promote an optimum
quality of patient care, decrease potential workplace or health
and safety errors; and increase the ability of the state in its
recruitment and retention of nurses."
This bill is similar to AB 1184 (Koretz) of 2005, which was
vetoed by the Governor. In his veto message, Governor
Schwarzenegger stated, in part:
California is facing a nursing shortage and there are not
enough nurses and certified nursing assistants to provide
coverage in State hospitals and health care facilities.
Because the State has difficulty recruiting a sufficient
number of these dedicated professionals for its hospitals
and other health care facilities, the State relies on
mandatory overtime staff to meet minimum level-of-care
staffing requirements. My administration has made the
training and recruitment of new nursing professionals a
high priority, with the added goal of filling vacant
nursing positions and reducing the resulting overtime
throughout state service.
Additionally, the Ralph C. Dills Act requires that the
state employer and the exclusive representative of
rank-and-file state employees meet and confer in good faith
over employee wages, hours of work, and terms and
conditions of employment. This bill would unilaterally
establish provisions governing hours of work for
represented health care employees, thereby circumventing
the collective bargaining process and the good faith
collective bargaining agreements negotiated between the
parties. If the State is to have good faith collective
bargaining, then wages, hours and terms and conditions of
employment must remain subject to negotiation.
Analysis Prepared by : Karon Green / P.E., R. & S.S. / (916)
319-3957
FN: 0003628
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