S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9958
 
                           I N  A S S E M B L Y
 
                              April 26, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced by M. of A. PAULIN -- read once and referred to the Committee
   on Labor
 
 AN  ACT  to  amend the labor law, in relation to restricting consecutive
   hours of work for health care workers
 
   THE PEOPLE OF THE STATE OF NEW YORK, REPRESENTED IN SENATE AND  ASSEM-
 BLY, DO ENACT AS FOLLOWS:
 
   Section  1.  The  section  heading  and  subdivisions 1, 2, 3 and 4 of
 section 167 of the labor law, as amended by chapter 815 of the  laws  of
 2022,  paragraph  (c)  of  subdivision 3 as amended by chapter 27 of the
 laws of 2023, are amended to read as follows:
   Restrictions on consecutive hours of work for nurses AND  HEALTH  CARE
 WORKERS. 1. When used in this section:
   a.  "Health  care  employer"  shall  mean any individual, partnership,
 association, corporation, limited liability company  or  any  person  or
 group  of  persons  acting directly or indirectly on behalf of or in the
 interest of the employer, which provides health care services (i)  in  a
 facility  licensed  or  operated pursuant to article twenty-eight of the
 public health law, including any facility operated by the state, a poli-
 tical subdivision or a public corporation as defined by  section  sixty-
 six  of  the general construction law, or (ii) in a facility operated by
 the state, a political subdivision or a public corporation as defined by
 section sixty-six of the general construction law, operated or  licensed
 pursuant  to  the  mental hygiene law, the education law, the correction
 law, or section five hundred four of the executive law.
   b. "Nurse" shall mean a registered professional nurse  or  a  licensed
 practical  nurse  as  defined  by article one hundred thirty-nine of the
 education law who provides direct patient care.
   c. "Regularly scheduled work hours", including  pre-scheduled  on-call
 time  and  the time spent for the purpose of communicating shift reports
 regarding patient status necessary to ensure patient safety, shall  mean
 those  hours  a  nurse  OR  HEALTH CARE WORKER has agreed to work and is
 normally scheduled to work pursuant to the budgeted hours  allocated  to
 the  nurse's OR HEALTH CARE WORKER'S position by the health care employ-
 er; and if no such allocation system exists, some other measure general-
 
  EXPLANATION--Matter in ITALICS (underscored) is new; matter in brackets
                       [ ] is old law to be omitted.
              

                                                            LBD15212-02-4
 A. 9958                             2
 
 ly used by the health care employer to determine  when  an  employee  is
 minimally  supposed  to  work, consistent with the collective bargaining
 agreement, if any. Nothing in this section shall be construed to  permit
 an employer to use on-call time as a substitute for mandatory overtime.
   D. "HEALTH CARE WORKER" SHALL MEAN PERSONNEL EMPLOYED BY OR CONTRACTED
 TO  WORK FOR A HEALTH CARE EMPLOYER WHO HAVE AN EFFECT UPON THE DELIVERY
 OF QUALITY CARE TO PATIENTS, INCLUDING BUT  NOT  LIMITED  TO  UNLICENSED
 ASSISTIVE  PERSONNEL,  SERVICE,  MAINTENANCE, CLERICAL, PROFESSIONAL AND
 TECHNICAL WORKERS, AND ALL OTHER HEALTH CARE WORKERS.  FOR  PURPOSES  OF
 THIS  SECTION,  DOCTORS,  INTERNS,  RESIDENTS  AND  FACILITY  MANAGEMENT
 PERSONNEL, AS WELL AS ANY CORRECTIONAL FACILITY SECURITY  PERSONNEL  NOT
 PROVIDING  HEALTH  CARE SERVICES, SHALL NOT BE  CONSIDERED A HEALTH CARE
 WORKER.
   2. a. Notwithstanding any  other  provision  of  law  no  health  care
 employer  shall  require a nurse OR HEALTH CARE WORKER to work more than
 that nurse's OR HEALTH CARE WORKER'S  regularly  scheduled  work  hours,
 except pursuant to subdivision three of this section.
   b. Nothing in this section shall prohibit a nurse OR HEALTH CARE WORK-
 ER from voluntarily working overtime.
   3. The limitations provided for in this section shall not apply in the
 case of:
   a. a health care disaster, such as a natural or other type of disaster
 that  increases the need for health care personnel, unexpectedly affect-
 ing the county in which the nurse OR HEALTH CARE WORKER is  employed  or
 in a contiguous county; or
   b.  a  federal,  state or county declaration of emergency in effect in
 the county in which the nurse OR HEALTH CARE WORKER is employed or in  a
 contiguous county; or
   c.  where  a  health  care  employer determines there is an emergency,
 necessary to provide safe patient care. For the purposes of  this  para-
 graph,  "emergency",  including  an unanticipated staffing emergency, is
 defined as an unforeseen event that could not be prudently  planned  for
 by an employer and does not regularly occur; or
   d.  an  ongoing  medical  or  surgical procedure in which the nurse OR
 HEALTH CARE WORKER is actively  engaged  and  whose  continued  presence
 through  the  completion of the procedure is needed to ensure the health
 and safety of the patient.
   4. The provisions of this section are intended as a  remedial  measure
 to  protect the public health and the quality of patient care, and shall
 not be construed to diminish or waive any rights of any nurse OR  HEALTH
 CARE  WORKER  pursuant  to  any  other  law,  regulation,  or collective
 bargaining agreement.
   § 2. This act shall take effect on the sixtieth  day  after  it  shall
 have become a law.