HB 1977 -- Safe Patient Care Act

Sponsor:  Burnett

This bill establishes the Safe Patient Care Act to regulate the
mandatory overtime of health care workers except in the case of
an unforeseeable emergency when the employer has exhausted all
reasonable efforts to obtain staffing and overtime is not
required to fill vacancies resulting from chronic staff
shortages.  Employers are not required to exhaust reasonable
efforts to obtain staffing in the event of a declared national,
state, or municipal disaster or other catastrophic event that
increases the need for health care services.  Employers must
document in writing and make available to the Department of
Health and Senior Services that reasonable efforts were used to
obtain staffing prior to asking employees to work overtime.

An employee may voluntarily agree to work overtime; however, any
contract or agreement that compels, coerces, or forces an
employee to work overtime is contrary to public policy and will
be void.  Employers are prohibited from retaliating,
discriminating, discharging, dismissing, or threatening to report
the individual to a licensing body or regulatory agency.

An employer will be subject to a penalty not to exceed $10,000
per violation unless the employer violates this provision on four
or more occasions; in which case, the penalty will not exceed
$15,000 per occurrence.  The employer may also be liable to the
employee in the form of reinstatement, promotion, payment of lost
wages and benefits, and other equitable relief.

The department in consultation with the Attorney General is
required to develop rules to ensure the compliance of the
provisions of the bill.

Missouri House of Representatives
93rd General Assembly, 2nd Regular Session
Last Updated November 29, 2006 at 9:45 am