BILL ANALYSIS �
Senate Appropriations Committee Fiscal Summary
Senator Kevin de Le�n, Chair
AB 2155 (Ridley-Thomas) - Nurses: Overtime
Amended: As Introduced Policy Vote: PE&R 3-2
Urgency: No Mandate: No
Hearing Date: August 4, 2014
Consultant: Maureen Ortiz
This bill meets the criteria for referral to the Suspense File.
Bill Summary: AB 2155 prohibits mandatory overtime for
registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses (LVNs), or
certified nursing assistants (CNAs) who are employed in state
hospitals and facilities.
Fiscal Impact:
Net costs of approximately $1.2 million annually to the
Department of State Hospitals (General Fund)
Unknown staffing costs annually to CDCR and DVA (General
Fund)
During 2013, the Department of State Hospitals mandated a total
of 53,973 overtime hours for registered nurses and licensed
vocational nurses. The total cost of this overtime pay
calculated at the mid-step was $2.33 million. It is estimated
that an additional 23.5 nurses and 3.9 LVN's would need to be
hired if mandatory overtime was eliminated at an estimated cost
of $3.5 million. The actual cost would likely be less since
presumably some nurses would voluntarily accept to work the
overtime hours.
Background: California's state hospitals primarily serve
patients through the Department of State Hospitals, the
California Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation, and the
Department of Veterans Affairs. State hospitals and facilities
in remote locations typically encounter difficulties in the
recruitment and retention of nurses.
Proposed Law: AB 2155 prohibits mandatory overtime for
registered nurses, licensed vocational nurses, or certified
AB 2155 (Ridley-Thomas)
Page 1
nursing assistants who are employed in state hospitals and
facilities, except under the following circumstances:
1) A nurse or CNA participating in a surgical procedure until
that procedure is completed.
2) If a catastrophic event occurs in a facility that involves
an unanticipated and nonrecurring event, and that 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.
AB 2155 provides that a facility will not require a nurse or CNA
to work in excess of a regularly scheduled workweek or work
shift. A nurse or CNA may volunteer or agree to work hours in
addition to his or her regularly scheduled workweek or work
shift but the refusal by a nurse or CNA to accept those
additional hours shall not be grounds for discrimination,
dismissal, discharge, or any other penalty or employment
decision adverse to the nurse or CNA.
AB 2155 additionally provides that its implementation will not
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.
Staff Comments: "Nurse" is defined as all classification of
registered nurses represented by State Bargaining Unit 17, or
the Licensed Vocational Nurse classifications represented by
State Bargaining Unit 20. CNA means all Certified Nursing
Assistance classifications represented by State Bargaining Unit
20.
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. AB 2155 bans mandatory
overtime for public sector nurses and CNAs. The use of
mandatory overtime for nurses in the private sector was banned
in 2001 through wage orders from the Industrial Welfare
Commission. State and public sector nurses were exempted from
that order.
AB 2155 (Ridley-Thomas)
Page 2
The provisions of AB 2155 will conflict with previously
negotiated contracts between the state and Unit 17 that defines
the terms, limitations, and processes for involuntary overtime.
That contract includes language that management will attempt not
to schedule nurses more than five involuntary overtime shifts
per month; or in excess of sixteen continuous hours; or in
excess of two overtime shifts within an employee's scheduled
work week; or more than two consecutive calendar days. A
mandated holdover of two hours or more is considered a mandated
overtime.
Employing the use of mandatory overtime may be resulting in an
increase in workplace errors, staff's health risks, safety
issues, and jeopardizes the state's recruitment and retention of
nurses.