S T A T E   O F   N E W   Y O R K
 ________________________________________________________________________
 
                                   9111
 
                             I N  S E N A T E
 
                              April 26, 2024
                                ___________
 
 Introduced  by  Sen.  MAYER  -- read twice and ordered printed, and when
   printed to be committed 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
 S. 9111                             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.