BILL ANALYSIS �
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THIRD READING
Bill No: AB 2155
Author: Ridley-Thomas (D)
Amended: 8/19/14 in Senate
Vote: 21
SENATE PUBLIC EMPLOYMENT & RETIREMENT COMM : 3-2, 6/23/14
AYES: Torres, De Le�n, Steinberg
NOES: Walters, Gaines
SENATE APPROPRIATIONS COMMITTEE : 5-0, 8/14/14
AYES: De Le�n, Hill, Lara, Padilla, Steinberg
NO VOTE RECORDED: Walters, Gaines
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-24, 5/28/14 - See last page for vote
SUBJECT : Nurses and certified nurse assistants: overtime
SOURCE : Service Employees International Union, Local 1000
DIGEST : This bill prohibits mandatory overtime for state
employees employed as registered nurses, licensed vocational
nurses, and certified nursing assistants (CNAs) in state
hospitals and facilities, except as specified.
ANALYSIS : 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
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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.
3.Under the provisions of the Ralph C. Dills Acts, provides a
statutory framework for the State and its represented
employees to collectively bargain over all issues impacting
wages and working conditions.
This bill:
1.Defines the terms nurse, CNA, facility, management or
supervisor, and emergency situation for purposes of the bill.
2.Prohibits a facility from requiring a nurse or CNA to work in
excess of a regularly scheduled workweek or work shift, except
as provided.
3.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
constitute either of the following:
A. Grounds for discrimination, dismissal, discharge, or any
other penalty or employment decision adverse to the nurse
or CNA.
B. Patient abandonment or neglect, except under
circumstances provided for in the Nursing Practice Act.
1.Requires, in order to avoid the use of mandatory overtime as a
scheduling tool, management and supervisors consider employees
to fulfill the additional staffing needs of a facility in the
following priority order:
A. First priority shall be given to employees who volunteer
or agree to work hours in addition to his or her regularly
scheduled workweek or work shift.
B. Second priority shall be given to individuals who are
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part-time or intermittent employees.
C. Third priority shall be given to employees who are on
call or on standby.
1.Provides that the overtime prohibition does not apply in the
following situations:
A. To any nurse or CNA participating in a surgical
procedure in which the nurse is actively engaged and whose
continued presence through the completion of the procedure
is needed to ensure the health and safety of the patient.
B. If a catastrophic event occurs in a facility where both
of the following apply:
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.
The catastrophic event is an unanticipated and
nonrecurring event.
A. If an emergency situation occurs.
1.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.
2.Specifies nothing in this bill shall be construed to preclude
a facility from hiring part-time or intermittent employees, or
prevents a facility from providing employees with more
protections against mandatory overtime than the minimum
protections established by this bill.
3.Becomes operative on January 1, 2016.
Comments
According to the author's office, mandatory overtime is a
practice used by hospitals and health care institutions to
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maintain adequate numbers of staff nurses through forced
overtime, often with a total of twelve to sixteen hours worked.
This bill 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 this order.
Prior Legislation
In 2005, a similar effort to ban mandatory overtime was proposed
in AB 1184 (Koretz) and vetoed by Governor Schwarzenegger
because the state was already having a difficult time recruiting
and training nurses for state hospitals.
FISCAL EFFECT : Appropriation: No Fiscal Com.: Yes
Local: No
According to the Senate Appropriations Committee:
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 licensed vocational
nurses 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.
SUPPORT : (Verified 8/18/14)
Service Employees International Union, Local 1000 (source)
AFSCME
American Nurses Association/California
California Correctional Peace Officers Association
California Labor Federation
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ARGUMENTS IN SUPPORT : According to the author, mandatory
overtime may cause or lead to increased stress on nurses and
CNAs, less patient comfort, and mental and physical fatigue
among nurses and CNAs, contributing to errors and "near-misses"
with medications and case-related procedures. According to
information provided by the author, West Virginia, Illinois,
Connecticut, Washington, Oregon, New Jersey, Minnesota, Maine,
Maryland, Alaska, and Massachusetts have laws prohibiting the
use of mandatory overtime as a general staffing practice.
According to the American Nurses Association/California (ANA/C),
"This bill would prohibit a registered nurse from working
mandatory overtime, a practice, banned for all nurses in
California, except for registered nurses in the public sector.
This dangerous practice may lead to an increase in workplace
errors, staff's health risks, safety issues, unsafe staffing
practices, and jeopardizes the state's recruitment and retention
of nurses. Overall, employing the use of mandatory overtime for
registered nurses leads to a decrease in the quality of care.
"AB 2155 encourages a safe civil service system, promotes
patient and staff safety that results in major cost savings for
the state. Furthermore, AB 2155 supports the state's
recruitment and retention of nurses."
ASSEMBLY FLOOR : 53-24, 5/28/14
AYES: Achadjian, Alejo, Bloom, Bocanegra, Bonilla, Bonta,
Bradford, Brown, Buchanan, Ian Calderon, Campos, Chau,
Chesbro, Cooley, Dababneh, Daly, Dickinson, Eggman, Fong,
Garcia, Gatto, Gomez, Gonzalez, Gordon, Gray, Hall, Roger
Hern�ndez, Holden, Jones-Sawyer, Levine, Lowenthal, Medina,
Mullin, Muratsuchi, Nazarian, Pan, Perea, John A. P�rez, V.
Manuel P�rez, Quirk, Quirk-Silva, Rendon, Ridley-Thomas,
Rodriguez, Salas, Skinner, Stone, Ting, Weber, Wieckowski,
Williams, Yamada, Atkins
NOES: Allen, Bigelow, Ch�vez, Conway, Dahle, Donnelly, Fox, Beth
Gaines, Gorell, Grove, Hagman, Harkey, Jones, Linder, Logue,
Maienschein, Mansoor, Melendez, Nestande, Olsen, Patterson,
Wagner, Waldron, Wilk
NO VOTE RECORDED: Ammiano, Frazier, Vacancy
JL:JA:nl 8/19/14 Senate Floor Analyses
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SUPPORT/OPPOSITION: SEE ABOVE
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