Signed by Governor Jay Inslee

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires uninterrupted breaks and limits overtime for certain health care workers.

Highlights:

• Defines “employee” as a person who (Sec. 1 & 2):

• Is employed by a health care facility, with certain exceptions;

• Is involved in direct patient care activities or clinical services;

• Receives an hourly wage or is covered by a collective bargaining agreement; and

• Is a licensed practical nurse or registered nurse, a surgical technologist, a diagnostic radiologic technologist or cardiovascular invasive specialist, a respiratory care practitioner, or a nursing assistant, with certain exceptions.

• Defines “employer” as hospitals, except the following which are excluded until July 1, 2021 (Sec. 1):

• Hospitals certified as critical access hospitals;

• Hospitals with fewer than 25 acute care beds in operation; and

• Hospitals certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as sole community hospitals as of January 1, 2013, that:

• Have had less than 150 acute care licensed beds in fiscal year 2011;

• Have a level III adult trauma service designation from the Department of Health as of January 1, 2014; and

• Are owned and operated by the state or a political subdivision.

• Requires an employer to provide meal and rest periods to employees as required by law, subject to the following (Sec. 1):

• Rest periods have to occur during each work period during which the employee is required to receive a rest period;

• When a rest break is interrupted by an employer or employer’s designee before ten complete minutes, an additional ten minute uninterrupted rest break must be given to the employee at the earliest reasonable time during the work period in which a rest period is required; and

• Employees have to be provided by their employers with uninterrupted meal and rest breaks, but does not apply in the case of:

• An unforeseeable emergent circumstance;

• A clinical circumstance that may lead to a significant adverse effect on the patient’s condition:

• Without the knowledge, specific skill, or ability of the employee on break; or

• Due to an unforeseen or unavoidable event concerning patient care delivery needing immediate action that could not be planned for by an employer.

• Establishes that the acceptance by an employee of overtime is strictly voluntary, unless, the overtime work is due to prescheduled on-call time, subject to the following (Sec. 3):

• Mandatory prescedule on-call time cannot be used instead of scheduling employees to work regularly scheduled shifts when a staffing plan shows the need for a scheduled shift; and

• Mandatory prescheduled on-call time cannot be used to address regular changes in patient census, acuity, or expected increases in the number of employees who do not report for predetermined scheduled shifts.

• Authorizes an employee to have at least 8 consecutive hours of uninterrupted time off from work when that employee accepts overtime and in so doing works more than 12 consecutive hours (Sec. 3).

Full Bill Text

Vote Smart's Synopsis:

Vote to pass a bill that requires uninterrupted breaks and limits overtime for certain health care workers.

Highlights:

• Defines “employee” as a person who (Sec. 1 & 2):

• Is employed by a health care facility, with certain exceptions;

• Is involved in direct patient care activities or clinical services;

• Receives an hourly wage or is covered by a collective bargaining agreement; and

• Is a licensed practical nurse or registered nurse, a surgical technologist, a diagnostic radiologic technologist or cardiovascular invasive specialist, a respiratory care practitioner, or a nursing assistant, with certain exceptions.

• Defines “employer” as hospitals, except the following which are excluded until July 1, 2021 (Sec. 1):

• Hospitals certified as critical access hospitals;

• Hospitals with fewer than 25 acute care beds in operation; and

• Hospitals certified by the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services as sole community hospitals as of January 1, 2013, that:

• Have had less than 150 acute care licensed beds in fiscal year 2011;

• Have a level III adult trauma service designation from the Department of Health as of January 1, 2014; and

• Are owned and operated by the state or a political subdivision.

• Requires an employer to provide meal and rest periods to employees as required by law, subject to the following (Sec. 1):

• Rest periods have to occur during each work period during which the employee is required to receive a rest period;

• When a rest break is interrupted by an employer or employer’s designee before ten complete minutes, an additional ten minute uninterrupted rest break must be given to the employee at the earliest reasonable time during the work period in which a rest period is required; and

• Employees have to be provided by their employers with uninterrupted meal and rest breaks, but does not apply in the case of:

• An unforeseeable emergent circumstance;

• A clinical circumstance that may lead to a significant adverse effect on the patient’s condition:

• Without the knowledge, specific skill, or ability of the employee on break; or

• Due to an unforeseen or unavoidable event concerning patient care delivery needing immediate action that could not be planned for by an employer.

• Establishes that the acceptance by an employee of overtime is strictly voluntary, unless, the overtime work is due to prescheduled on-call time, subject to the following (Sec. 3):

• Mandatory prescedule on-call time cannot be used instead of scheduling employees to work regularly scheduled shifts when a staffing plan shows the need for a scheduled shift; and

• Mandatory prescheduled on-call time cannot be used to address regular changes in patient census, acuity, or expected increases in the number of employees who do not report for predetermined scheduled shifts.

• Authorizes an employee to have at least 8 consecutive hours of uninterrupted time off from work when that employee accepts overtime and in so doing works more than 12 consecutive hours (Sec. 3).

Full Bill Text