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State nurses say mandatory overtime and registry spending hinder recruitment and care in CDCR
Summary
A licensed vocational nurse and bargaining‑unit chair told a Senate subcommittee that mandatory overtime, low shift differentials and heavy use of registry staff are harming recruitment and patient care; she cited large registry contract costs and asked for changes to hiring timelines and pay.
Heather Markovich, a licensed vocational nurse and bargaining‑unit chair, told the Senate subcommittee that nurses in California's prisons face mandatory overtime, low shift differentials, unsafe work conditions and aggressive use of outside registry staff that undermines permanent hiring.
"It is wrong that the state does this," Markovich said, describing low weekend and holiday differentials and contrast with registry pay. She testified that the California correctional health system has spent large sums on registry contracts and that some individual registry paychecks far exceeded state salaries.
Markovich told the committee that, since 2014, registry spending and contracts for temporary clinical staff have totaled large amounts (she cited statewide registry spending figures in testimony). She gave examples of individual pay and said one registered nurse at Avenal made $30,897 in a month and other registry pay examples for LVNs and CNAs. She said registry staff often receive more flexible hours, higher pay and are not subject to mandatory overtime rules that bind permanent staff.
Markovich described the operational effects of mandatory overtime: nurses are sometimes required to remain for an additional eight hours past a shift, and failure to comply can trigger formal disciplinary paperwork that can affect pay and career records. She linked mandatory overtime to fatigue and medication errors and said registry reliance increases costs while undermining retention of permanent staff.
Markovich urged faster recruitment timelines (she said the state needs to hire staff within 30 days where possible), alternate work schedules such as 12‑hour shifts, competitive pay and proper use of registries to preserve taxpayer funds and stabilize staffing. She also told the committee that nurses perform high‑risk on‑site duties such as responding to hangings, stabbings and medical emergencies in settings that can lack basic infrastructure such as air conditioning and safe medication rooms.
Committee members received copies of a report Markovich referenced and the hearing record will include submitted materials. The hearing was informational; no formal action was taken at the session.
