Time-off Between Shifts

[Eoghan]

Is there a minimal time you have to be off before you begin to work another shift, on another day? Is it fair for me to work 3pm-11:30pm, and have to report the next morning at 6:30am? I am an allied healthcare worker, not a nurse, and i am unsure if there are any laws or rules about this?

ANSWER: Sawyer - There is no federal law addressing the topic of work hour limitations for healthcare employees.  Some states have begun to investigate the matter, and a very few have legislation limiting overtime hours.

If you would let me know in which state you work, I can give you more specific information.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

I currently live and work in Pennsylvania. The hours im working are not considered overtime. Im just forced to be back to work after working an 8.5 hour shift one night, to be back to work 7 hours later for my next shift. By the time i get home and try to sleep and wake up for my next work shift, i have maybe been alloted 5 hours of sleep.

[Elkanah]

Sawyer - I am attaching the law in Pennsylvania that regulates time worked in healthcare facilities.  I do not know enough of the specifics of your situation to break this down for you, but if you read it and need me to interpret anything, please just write back and I'll be happy to help:

Prohibition of Excessive Overtime in Health Care Act

(Act No. 102#

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES

Act 102 #complete version#

Act 102 FAQs

PDF version of Act 102 Power Point Presentation

PDF version of Act 102 Complaint Form

ACT SUMMARY

Act 102 prohibits a health care facility from requiring employees to work more than agreed to, predetermined and regularly scheduled work shifts. Employees covered under Act 102 are individuals involved in direct patient care or clinical care services who receive an hourly wage or who are classified as nonsupervisory employees for collective bargaining purposes.

Act 102 will not prevent an employee from working more than an 8-hour shift if the this shift is agreed to and regularly scheduled. It does not prohibit overtime for on-call time, if certain unforeseeable emergent circumstances occur #e.g. unforeseeable national or state emergencies; highly unusual or extraordinary event affecting the need for health care services; and unexpected absences discovered at or before the commencement of a scheduled shift which could not be prudently planned for by a health care facility and which could significantly affect patient safety) where the employer provides notice, the facility exhausts reasonable efforts under Act 102 and the additional hours are a last resort, mandatory overtime is also allowed if an employee must complete a patient care procedure already in progress at the end of regularly-scheduled shift. Act 102 does not prevent an employer from providing employees more protection from mandatory overtime than the minimum established under this act.

On call time may not be utilized as a substitute for mandatory overtime or as a means of circumventing this law. Vacancies resulting from chronic short staffing do not constitute an unforeseeable emergent circumstance allowing the use of mandatory overtime.

Employees may also agree to work any overtime. However, an employer may not retaliate against an employee who refuses to work overtime. An employee required to work more than 12 consecutive hours under the Act's exceptions or who volunteer to work more than 12 consecutive hours may receive 10 consecutive hours of off-duty time immediately following the worked overtime. An employee may waive this off-duty time, however.

Commencing July 1, 2009, the Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry's Bureau of Labor Law Compliance will enforce Act 102 and may impose administrative fines and corrective orders, following hearing, for any health care facility that violates this law. The Bureau of Labor Law Compliance will also promulgate regulations to implement Act 102.

A health care facility defined under section 2 of Act 102 is governed by the Act 102's provisions:

"Health care facility." A facility which provides clinically related health services, regardless of whether the operation is for profit or nonprofit and regardless of whether operation is by the private sector or by State or local government.

(1) The term includes all of the following:

(i) A general or special hospital, a psychiatric hospital, a rehabilitation hospital, a hospice, an ambulatory surgical facility, a long-term care nursing facility, a cancer treatment center using radiation therapy on an ambulatory basis and an inpatient drug and alcohol treatment facility.

(ii) A facility which provides clinically related health services and which is operated by the Department of Corrections, the Department of Health, the Department of Military and Veterans Affairs or the Department of Public Welfare.

(iii) A mental retardation facility operated by the Department of Public Welfare.

An employee includes all of the following:

An individual employed by a health care facility, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania or one of its instrumentalities, or a political subdivision(such as a county, municipality, school district, local government). Who is involved in direct patient care activities or clinical care services. Who receives an hourly wage or is classified as a nonsupervisory employee for collective bargaining purposes. An employee also includes an individual employed through a personnel agency that contracts with a health care facility to provide personnel. An individual is involved in clinical care services if the individual is involved in diagnostic imaging, treatment or rehabilitative services provided in a health care facility including the following: radiology, and diagnostic imaging, such as magnetic resonance imaging and postitron emission tomography; radiation therapy; and laboratory medical services.