AN
ACT Relating to prohibiting health care facilities from requiring employees to
perform overtime work; adding new sections to chapter 49.28 RCW; creating a new
section; and prescribing penalties.
BE IT ENACTED BY THE
LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF WASHINGTON:
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 1.
Washington state is experiencing a critical shortage of qualified, competent
health care workers. To safeguard the health, efficiency, and general
well-being of health care workers and promote patient safety and quality of
care, the legislature finds, as a matter of public policy, that required
overtime work should be limited with reasonable safeguards in order to ensure
that the public will continue to receive safe, quality care.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 2. The
definitions in this section apply throughout this section and sections 3 and 4
of this act unless the context clearly requires otherwise.
(1)
"Employee" means a licensed practical nurse or a registered nurse
licensed under chapter 18.79 RCW employed by a health care facility who is
involved in direct patient care activities or clinical services and receives an
hourly wage.
(2)
"Employer" means an individual, partnership, association,
corporation, state institution, political subdivision of the state, or person
or group of persons, acting directly or indirectly in the interest of a health
care facility.
(3)
"Health care facility" means the following facilities, or any part of
the facility, that operates on a twenty-four hours per day, seven days per week
basis: Hospices licensed under chapter 70.127 RCW, hospitals licensed under
chapter 70.41 RCW, rural health care facilities as defined in RCW 70.175.020,
and psychiatric hospitals licensed under chapter 71.12 RCW, and includes such
facilities if owned and operated by a political subdivision or instrumentality
of the state. If a nursing home regulated under chapter 18.51 RCW or a home
health agency regulated under chapter 70.127 RCW is operating under the license
of a health care facility, the nursing home or home health agency is considered
part of the health care facility for the purposes of this subsection.
(4)
"Overtime" means the hours worked in excess of an agreed upon,
predetermined, regularly scheduled shift within a twenty-four hour period not
to exceed twelve hours in a twenty-four hour period or eighty hours in a
consecutive fourteen-day period.
(5)
"On-call time" means time spent by an employee who is not working on
the premises of the place of employment but who is compensated for availability
or who, as a condition of employment, has agreed to be available to return to
the premises of the place of employment on short notice if the need arises.
(6)
"Reasonable efforts" means that the employer, to the extent
reasonably possible, does all of the following but is unable to obtain staffing
coverage:
(a)
Seeks individuals to volunteer to work extra time from all available qualified
staff who are working;
(b)
Contacts qualified employees who have made themselves available to work extra
time;
(c)
Seeks the use of per diem staff; and
(d)
Seeks personnel from a contracted temporary agency when such staffing is permitted
by law or an applicable collective bargaining agreement, and when the employer
regularly uses a contracted temporary agency.
(7)
"Unforeseeable emergent circumstance" means (a) any unforeseen
declared national, state, or municipal emergency; (b) when a health care
facility disaster plan is activated; or (c) any unforeseen disaster or other
catastrophic event which substantially affects or increases the need for health
care services.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 3. (1)
No employee of a health care facility may be required to work overtime.
Attempts to compel or force employees to work overtime are contrary to public
policy, and any such requirement contained in a contract, agreement, or
understanding is void.
(2)
The acceptance by any employee of overtime is strictly voluntary, and the
refusal of an employee to accept such overtime work is not grounds for
discrimination, dismissal, discharge, or any other penalty, threat of reports
for discipline, or employment decision adverse to the employee.
(3)
This section does not apply to overtime work that occurs:
(a)
Because of any unforeseeable emergent circumstance;
(b)
Because of prescheduled on‑call time;
(c)
When the employer documents that the employer has used reasonable efforts to
obtain staffing. An employer has not used reasonable efforts if overtime work
is used to fill vacancies resulting from chronic staff shortages; or
(d)
When an employee is required to work overtime to complete a patient care
procedure already in progress where the absence of the employee could have an
adverse effect on the patient.
NEW
SECTION. Sec. 4. The
department of labor and industries shall investigate complaints of violations
of section 3 of this act. A violation of section 3 of this act is a class 1
civil infraction in accordance with chapter 7.80 RCW, except that the maximum
penalty is one thousand dollars for each infraction up to three infractions.
If there are four or more violations of section 3 of this act for a health care
facility, the employer is subject to a fine of two thousand five hundred
dollars for the fourth violation, and five thousand dollars for each subsequent
violation. The department of labor and industries is authorized to issue and
enforce civil infractions according to chapter 7.80 RCW.
NEW SECTION. Sec. 5.
Sections 2 through 4 of this act are each added to chapter 49.28 RCW.
