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Representative Al Cutrona and Representative Bride Sweeney — House Commerce and Labor Committee (House Bill 163)

Summary

Sponsor testimony on House Bill 163 from Representative Al Cutrona and Representative Bride Sweeney, addressed to Chair Stein, Vice Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan and the House Commerce and Labor Committee. The testimony states that the bill is a reintroduction of HB 144, which passed the House by a vote of 80-13. It says the intent is to prohibit a hospital from requiring a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse to work beyond an agreed, scheduled workweek as a condition of continued employment, while nurses may still volunteer for overtime. It also lists situations in which hospitals may request or schedule overtime, such as health care disasters and declarations of emergency.

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“Representative Al Cutrona and Representative Bride Sweeney — House Commerce and Labor Committee (House Bill 163).” Archived at Pandemic Darlings, https://pandemicdarlings.com/source-documents/2021-03-17-commerce-labor-testimony-hb163sponsorcutronasweeney-b485f5cd70/, SHA-256 345a3d660a8a69472f87544a0e3618596b33f4fc73a2200d14148eb5cc3ad0e8.

Full text

                                       Representative Al Cutrona
                                              59th Ohio House District

                                    Representative Bride Sweeney
                                              14th Ohio House District

Cutrona

Chair Stein, Vice Chair Johnson, Ranking Member Lepore-Hagan, and members of the House Commerce and Labor
Committee, thank you for the opportunity to provide sponsor testimony on House Bill 163.

This bill is a reintroduction of HB 144 from last GA, which passed the House with a strong, bipartisan vote of 80-13.
As HB 144 made its way through the House, the committee heard compelling testimony from nurses, and the family
members of nurses, who have suffered from mandated overtime. Proponent testimony was also submitted by
Auditor Faber outlining the cost savings that hospitals would see if they eliminated the use of mandatory overtime.
I look forward to future hearings where this testimony can be presented to you all as well.

This bill does not prohibit a nurse from being able to work overtime. The bill is meant to address the issue of nurses
feeling compelled to work unscheduled overtime, which can result in negative health consequences for patients and
nurses. According to a February 2020 report done by the Health Policy Institute of Ohio and The Ohio State University
College of Nursing, excess work and overtime can result in negative outcomes for patients and nurses. In addition,
non-overtime nurse staffing has shown to result in improved patient health outcomes.

There have been reports from the nursing industry of employers threatening disciplinary action, including
termination or reporting patient abandonment, if nurses do not work unscheduled overtime. Patient abandonment
can be a reason used by a professional licensing board to take action on a license, including revocation. An example
of this would be after a nurse completes a 12-hour shift and feels compelled, due to negative professional
consequences, to stay for unscheduled overtime work.

Sweeney

The intent of the legislation is to prohibit a hospital from requiring a registered nurse or licensed practical nurse to
work in excess of an agreed upon, predetermined, scheduled full-time or part-time workweek as a condition of
continued employment. Hospitals will be prohibited from terminating employment, proposing to terminate
employment, taking disciplinary or retaliatory action, or proposing to take disciplinary or retaliatory action solely
because a nurse chooses not to work overtime.

Under the bill, nurses may still voluntarily work overtime. In addition, hospitals may offer overtime. Hospitals may
request or schedule overtime during health care disasters; declarations of emergency; prudently unanticipated
emergencies, unforeseen events, or influxes of patients that result in care needs beyond reasonable predictable
levels and increased needs in personnel to ensure safe patient care; situations when a nurse is actively engaged in
an ongoing medical or surgical procedure.

This bill is meant to ensure proper policies are in place that protect the health of patients and nurses. I want to thank
you for your time and attention to this matter and am happy to answer any questions that you may have.

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