Does this new law prohibit hospitals from requiring off-duty nurses from taking additional shifts?
No. As written, the legislation only prohibits a hospital from requiring nurses to work beyond the scheduled hours of a designated shift. It does not prohibit an employer from requiring off-duty nurses from reporting to work and/or accepting additional scheduled shifts. Nor does it allow nurses to refuse reporting to work during hours they have previously been scheduled to work on-call. 2. Are there restrictions related to mandated oncall time for professional nurses? Possibly. The law states that “time spent by nurses required to be available as a condition of employment in specialized units, such as surgical nursing services, shall not be counted or considered in calculating the amount of time worked for the purpose of applying the prohibition against mandated overtime” This language seems to allow a hospital to mandate unscheduled oncall shifts for nurses in specialized units, where the oncall shift requirement is an established employment condition. It is unclear how the law would
