The Wisconsin Federation of Nurses and Health Professionals (WFNHP) rallied in December at the Wisconsin capitol to support a bill that would ban mandatory overtime.

"How many patients' lives have been put at risk because the politicians in this state refuse to listen to the nurses and instead have folded under pressure from hospital lobbyists?" demanded Candice Owley, president of WFNHP and an AFT vice president.

State Sen. Judy Robson and state Rep. DuWayne Johnsrud have introduced a bill in the Legislature that would end mandatory overtime, which healthcare workers say is dangerous to patients' health.

"When someone is exhausted and distracted because of having to work 12 or 16 hours with very difficult patients, the quality of care is jeopardized," said Robson, a nurse.

Rep. Johnsrud said hospitals are forcing overtime at "alarming rates" in Wisconsin. The long hours-including double shifts of 16 hours or more-can impair a nurse's judgment, he said. "I am deeply concerned about patient safety," added Johnsrud, whose wife is a nurse. "When people who are impaired are forced to save lives, something has to give."

The legislation would prohibit any healthcare facility from requiring a direct-care, clinical or laboratory employee to work more than 40 hours per week without the consent of the worker. The bill also would prohibit an employer from discharging or discriminating against a healthcare worker who refuses to work overtime.

An April 2001 survey of nurses conducted by Healthwire found that 75 percent of those surveyed reported that they regularly worked overtime. Of those, half (49 percent) said they had been forced to work overtime. And a third (32 percent) of those who worked overtime said that although they were not mandated to work additional hours, they felt the overtime was involuntary in that they had no choice but to stay. More than a third of the Healthwire respondents (34.8 percent) said they had been "threatened with or accused of patient abandonment" for refusing to work overtime.

Six states have passed laws banning mandatory overtime, and a ban is being considered in 17 states.