Lawmakers hear testimony about hospitals’ abuse of forced RN overtime, solution

LANSING – Today (Wednesday, Feb. 11), members of the Senate Regulatory Affairs Committee heard testimony about the harm caused by Michigan hospitals’ rampant abuse of mandatory nurse overtime as well as a bipartisan solution.

​There is no law limiting the number of consecutive hours a nurse can be forced to work. Since hospital nurses typically work 12-hour shifts, being forced to stay over can mean shifts of 16, 18 or even more hours. Nurses do not have the right to say no. This leads to nurses being forced to provide care while exhausted, putting patients at potential risk and leading nurses to quit hospital work.

​State Senators Stephanie Chang (D-Detroit) and Ed McBroom (R-Waucedah Township) are the sponsors of Senate Bills 296 and 297, respectively. The package prohibits forced overtime for hospital RNs in most circumstances. It also requires a hospital to give nurses 8 hours off after a 12-hour shift so they can rest before coming back to work.

​“Too many times, hospitals force nurses to work longer than 12 hours as a matter of routine,” said Aaron McCormick, RN, president of the Michigan Nurses Association, who testified at the hearing. “Excessive mandatory overtime is shown to be one of the factors driving nurses out of the hospital setting and out of the profession altogether. Although hospitals like to blame a supposed shortage, the truth is that there are enough nurses available – they just don’t want to work in such impossible conditions. Legislators must put guardrails in place to retain nurses and protect patients.”

​If this legislation passes, Michigan would join 18 other states that prohibit or limit forced nurse overtime.

​“It’s dangerous to force nurses to provide life-saving care when they are exhausted or sleep-deprived,” Chang said. “For safety reasons, there should be legal limits on nurses’ working hours just like there are for other professions such as truck drivers, air traffic controllers, airline pilots, and train engineers. Let’s support our nursing workforce and enable the best possible outcomes for patients by making this commonsense change.”

​The legislation allows nurses to volunteer for overtime as long as they feel able to provide safe care. It also provides for exceptions in circumstances such as natural disasters, mass casualty events, or an ongoing patient care procedure.

“The current system relies on the overuse of mandatory nurse overtime and is unsafe and unfair,” McBroom said. “Our plan provides the protections that nurses need and patients require while giving hospitals necessary flexibility in cases when mandatory overtime is truly warranted.”

Data show that the practice of mandatory overtime is a factor in the continuing nurse staffing crisis:

• Thirty-one percent of Michigan licensed nurses not working in direct care would be likely to return to or start working in direct care if excessive mandatory overtime were limited, according to independent research conducted in 2023.*1​
• Mandatory overtime was associated with a higher likelihood of departure from nursing in the past two years, according to a 2022 University of Michigan survey of more than 10,000 Michigan licensed nurses.*2

The Michigan Nurses Association (MNA) is the largest union and professional association for registered nurses and healthcare professionals in the state. MNA is an affiliate of National Nurses United and AFL-CIO.

​*1 Emma White Research: Survey of Registered Nurses Living or Working in Michigan. Commissioned by the Michigan Nurses Association. January 23, 2023

*2 Barbara Medvec, et al: “Patterns and Correlates of Nurse Departures From the Health Care Workforce: Results From a Statewide Study.” Medical Care. May 2023