Mass. bill would ban mandatory overtime for most hospital workers

A bill filed Jan. 15, 2025, in the Massachusetts House would prohibit hospitals and similar facilities from requiring mandatory overtime for most health-care workers except when patient safety requires it and there is no reasonable alternative, according to the bill text filed by Representative Daniel Cahill.

The proposal, House Docket No. 2073, would define which settings and staff are covered, cap predetermined scheduled shifts, set maximum consecutive hours, require facilities to report mandatory-overtime use to state agencies and require the Health Policy Commission to develop emergency guidelines with public input.

Under the bill’s definitions, “facility” includes hospitals licensed under Chapter 111, the University of Massachusetts medical school teaching hospital, licensed private or state-owned acute care hospitals, acute psychiatric hospitals, acute specialty hospitals, acute care units within state-operated health facilities, and one specified medium-security correctional facility in Plymouth County that is privately managed. The bill excludes rehabilitation facilities, skilled nursing and other long-term care facilities and other Massachusetts correctional facilities.

The bill defines “health care workforce” to include personnel employed by or contracted to work at a covered facility who affect delivery of patient care, specifically listing registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, unlicensed assistive personnel, and service, maintenance, clerical, professional and technical workers. The text specifies that doctors, interns, residents, facility management and correctional security staff not providing health care are not part of the health-care workforce for the bill’s purposes.

The bill defines “mandatory overtime” as hours worked beyond the predetermined, regularly scheduled number of hours agreed between a facility and an employee, and states that such predetermined scheduled hours may not exceed 12 hours in any 24-hour period. It bars facilities from requiring mandatory overtime except in an emergency where patient safety requires it and there is no reasonable alternative, and it directs facilities to make a good-faith effort to cover required hours on a voluntary basis before requiring overtime.

The proposal places two additional limits on hours: a member of the health-care workforce may not work more than 16 consecutive hours in a 24-hour period, and if an employee works 16 consecutive hours the bill requires at least eight consecutive hours off duty immediately afterward.

The Health Policy Commission, established under chapter 6D, section 2 of the General Laws, would be required to develop guidelines and procedures to determine what constitutes an emergency that would allow mandatory overtime; the commission must consult affected employees and employers and hold a public hearing as part of that process, the bill says. Facilities would be required to report instances of mandatory overtime and the circumstances requiring it to the Department of Public Health, or, for the specified privately managed medium-security correctional institution, to the contracting management company and the Department of Corrections. The bill states such reports shall be public documents.

The text says the section is intended as a remedial measure to protect public health and patient safety and that it does not waive rights under other laws, regulations or collective-bargaining agreements; it also states that refusal to accept work beyond the limits in the section shall not be grounds for discrimination, dismissal, discharge or other employment action.

The bill was filed by Representative Daniel Cahill and lists several co-petitioners; it was submitted to the House Committee on Labor and Workforce Development for consideration. No committee action or floor votes are recorded in the docket text provided.

House Docket No. 2073 would amend Section 226 of Chapter 111 of the Massachusetts General Laws to add these provisions; the Health Policy Commission and the Department of Public Health are named in the text as the agencies responsible for guidelines and reporting.