Your Guide to Act 102 - The Ban on Mandatory Overtime
With the Governor's signature on Act 102, our bill against mandatory overtime, as of July 1st, 2009 this dangerous practice has been outlawed in Pennsylvania's health care facilities except in emergencies.
What Does Act 102 Do?
Act 102 OUTLAWS discipline or discrimination against a caregiver for refusing to work beyond an agreed to, scheduled work shift, except in narrowly-defined unforeseeable circumstances. (see exceptions below)
The Act explicitly says that mandatory overtime can ONLY be used as a LAST RESORT after the employer has exhausted all reasonable alternatives. The Act specifically outlaws mandatory overtime as a normal staffing practice.
Who is Covered?
The Act applies to ALL direct patient caregivers, including nurses, technicians, technologists, certified nursing assistants, and phlebotomists.
The Act applies to every type of medical care setting including acute care, rehabilitation, and psychiatric hospitals, nursing homes, ambulatory surgical facilities and state health facilities.
What Are My Rights?
Your employer cannot require you to work beyond your regular shift and cannot discipline or discriminate against you for refusing to work overtime in accordance with the law.
Your employer cannot use on-call time as a substitute for mandatory overtime or as a means of circumventing the intent of the legislation.
A caregiver who works more than 12 consecutive hours per workday is entitled to a minimum of ten consecutive hours of off-duty time immediately after the worked overtime.
Mandatory overtime cannot be used to deal with vacancies that are a result of short staffing.
Are There Exceptions?
There are a few narrowly defined exceptions written into Act 102:
- An unforeseeable declared national, state, or municipal emergency.
- A highly unusual event which is unpredictable or unavoidable and which substantially affects the provision of health care services, including:
- An act of terrorism
- A natural disaster
- A widespread disease outbreak
- Unexpected absences, discovered at or before the start of a scheduled shift, which could not be prudently planned for by an employer, and which would significantly affect patient safety. This does not include vacancies that arise as a result of chronic short staffing.
Download a PDF of the full Guide to Act 102 or fill out this form to ask a question about the ban on mandatory overtime.