A health care employer must prudently plan for patient care emergencies and meet routine staffing needs without using mandatory overtime by implementing a Nurse Coverage Plan. This plan should take into account typical patterns of staff absenteeism due to:
- Illness
- Leave
- Bereavement
- Other similar factors
It must reflect the health care employer’s typical levels and types of patients served by the health care facility. The Plan must identify and describe alternative staffing methods available to the health care employer to ensure adequate staffing without mandatory overtime. This includes (but is not limited to):
- Contracts with per diem nurses
- Contracts with nurse registries/employment agencies for nursing services
- Arrangements for assignment of nursing floats
- Requesting an additional day of work from off-duty employees
- Development and posting of a list of nurses seeking voluntary overtime
The health care employer must document all attempts to avoid the use of mandatory overtime and seek alternative staffing.
October 2018
Tags: New York, Nurse Mandatory Overtime
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