A new state law, passed during the recent legislative session, reduces the number of circumstances under which nurses can be required to work mandatory overtime from five to one.
While the legislation gives nurses an extra layer of protection, and perhaps more flexibility over their schedules, experts say it does little to address hospitals’ ongoing nursing staff shortage, which was brought into the spotlight during the COVID-19 pandemic.
Through a vicious cycle, staffing shortages can lead nurses to burn out and leave the industry, thereby exacerbating the shortage, health experts say. The Wall Street Journal recently reported that the labor market is so tight that countries are actually poaching each other’s nurses by offering higher pay and other benefits.
In Connecticut, Hartford-based Connecticut Children’s recently announced it was increasing its hourly minimum wage to $18, in an effort to retain and attract top talent.
The new Connecticut law bars hospitals from mandating nurse overtime unless “patient safety” is at risk and there is “no reasonable alternative.”
Once the new law takes effect Oct. 1, a nurse cannot be ordered to work OT — and can’t be disciplined by his or her employer for refusing if asked — except in an emergency. For nurses, OT is triggered when they work more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period, or after 48 hours in a week.
The law does not define what “patient safety” means, so it will be up to hospitals to decide.
Attorney Jason R. Stanevich, a...
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