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Model Contract Language on Mandatory Overtime

Outside of legislative efforts, limits on mandatory overtime have also been won directly by unions in contract negotiations. Examples of agreements that feature such language include those of AFSCME at Waterbury Hospital in Connecticut, Altoona General Hospital in Pennsylvania, McLaren Hospital in Michigan, and Tenet Healthcare's Lakewood and Irvine Hospitals in California; FNHP at Burlington, Vermont, and Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C.; UAN/ANA at Lima Memorial Hospital in Ohio; and the Washington Nurses Association state contract.

The most far-reaching contract language comes from Waterbury Hospital, where the Connecticut Health Care Associates (AFSCME) negotiated a contract stipulating, "There will be no mandatory overtime and no employee will be disciplined for refusing overtime work."288

Additional examples include the Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals' 1999–2001 contract with Burlington Memorial Hospital, which stipulates that mandatory overtime may be used only in emergencies, including unplanned absences (absences with less than 24 hours' notice), hospital- designated disasters such as plane crashes, or emergency high census.

Even in these cases, before imposing any mandatory overtime, management must exhaust each of the following: seek volunteers, offer a critical shift premium of $40 per shift; seek volunteers among those not scheduled to work, with the same premium; use agency staff; and contact other regional hospitals to help. Finally, "an employee may be excused by the hospital if the assignment will pose a health threat to the employee or patient care."289

Similarly, the Federation of Nurses' 1999–2002 contract with Staten Island University Hospital stipulates that mandatory overtime shifts of three or more hours must be paid at double time for the entire mandated shift. No nurse can be required to work more than one mandatory overtime shift per pay period, unless no other RN in the entire hospital can be assigned. After 300 hours of mandatory overtime in a calendar quarter, one RN (or full-time equivalent) will be added to the existing staffing levels. Finally, the contract states, "no decrease in the number of RNs employed at the hospital will result in an increase of mandatory overtime."290

Finally, the FNHP 2000–03 contract with Washington Hospital Center in Washington, D.C., states that any nurse may refuse overtime or on-call status "for personal fatigue, personal illness or extenuating circumstances."291

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