Legislation to limit the use of mandatory overtime for nurses was introduced in Congress in February by Sen. Edward Kennedy (D-Mass.). A companion bill was introduced in the House by Reps. Pete Stark (D-Calif.) and Steven LaTourette (R-Ohio).

The Safe Nursing and Patient Care Act would prohibit hospitals and healthcare facilities that are Medicare providers from forcing nurses to work overtime, except in cases of an official state of emergency declared by federal, state or a local government. The measure would allow nurses to voluntarily work overtime.

Growing evidence shows the dangers of forced overtime for nurses and their patients. A 2004 study by researchers at the University of Pennsylvania’s School of Nursing found that nurses who worked more than 12 hours were three times more likely to make errors than nurses working eight-hour shifts.

“When healthcare facilities rely on overworked, exhausted nurses, they are gambling that patients won’t die or otherwise be harmed by inadvertent mistakes,” says Edward J. McElroy, president of AFT Healthcare. “Ending the unsafe practice of mandatory overtime is absolutely necessary so that nurses can provide the kind of care they are trained to give and that patients need.”

AFT Healthcare locals have successfully lobbied for state laws that limit mandatory overtime for nurses in recent years. These states include Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, New Jersey and Oregon.