On December 18, 2008, Pennsylvania Governor Edward G. Rendell signed into law legislation (“H.B. 834”) that prohibits mandatory overtime for health care workers except in certain circumstances. This legislation, commonly known as the “Mandatory Overtime” law, establishes the “Prohibition of Excessive Overtime in Health Care Act,” which will take effect on July 1, 2009.

The Mandatory Overtime Law covers “health care facilities” which are defined as “facility[ies] which provide[] clinically related health services, regardless of whether the operation is for profit or nonprofit and regardless of whether the operation is by the private sector or by State or local government,” including “long-term care nursing facility[ies]” and facilities and employees who provide “clinical care services,” such as “diagnostic, treatment or rehabilitative services.” The Act protects all employees who are “involved in direct patient care activities or clinical care services and who receive an hourly wage or [are] classified as non-supervisory employee[s] for collective bargaining purposes.”

Generally, under the Mandatory Overtime Law, a health care facility cannot compel a protected employee “to work in excess of an agreed to, predetermined and regularly scheduled daily work shift,” unless the employee voluntarily accepts the extra hours. The general rule does not apply in the following situations:

1) on-call time;
2) if an unforeseeable emergent circumstance occurs; or
3) when an employee is required to work overtime to complete a patient care procedure already in progress if the absence of the employee could have an adverse effect on the patient.

The Mandatory Overtime Law is enforced by a penalty provision and a retaliation provision. Employers who violate this law are subject to administrative fines ranging from $100 to $1,000 per violation. The employer is also prohibited from retaliating against a protected employee who refuses to accept work in excess of the employee’s predetermined and regularly scheduled shift.

Employers who may be effected by this law should be taking steps now to ensure their compliance when this law takes effect on July 1, 2009. If you have any questions about the Mandatory Overtime Law and whether your health care facility will be compliant when the law goes into effect, please contact either Kathleen D. Bruder at kbruder@rhoads-sinon.com (717) 237-6731; Cory A. Iannacone at ciannacone@rhoads-sinon.com (717) 237-6778; or Jill Neary Weikert at jweikert@rhoads-sinon.com (717) 231-6608 all of whom work in Rhoads & Sinon LLP’s Employment and Labor Law Department.