Mandatory overtime for nurses now banned in Pennsylvania

Philly.com, July 7, 2009

As of July 1, all nurses and caregivers in Pennsylvania are now largely immune from management requests to work "mandatory overtime." The extra hours, nurses say, were frequently tacked on the end of already long hospital shifts, jeopardizing patient care and making it tough to keep quality nurses. For much of the decade, nurses and the Service Employees International Union have been lobbying for a change in state law that would restrict hospitals' ability to force nurses and support staff to work overtime hours. Fourteen other states have similar laws and regulations on the books.