Did You Know? Mandatory Overtime Protections are the Law for All Healthcare Techs and CNAs in Washington!

Thanks to our action and the unity we built in our workplaces and in Olympia, as of July 1 this year, we now have the choice whether or not to work overtime!

The law covers ALL tech jobs, including:

• Surgical Technologist
• Diagnostic Radiologic Technologist
• Cardiovascular Invasive Specialist
• Respiratory Care Practitioner
• Certified Nursing Assistants

Guaranteed time off

When we won the ability to choose whether or not we work overtime, we also won guaranteed time off. As of July 1 this year, if we accept overtime and work more than 12 hours, we must be given the option of at least 8 hours of uninterrupted time off following that overtime shift.

Rest between shifts is now the law!

Reasonable efforts to avoid overtime

Before assigning us mandatory overtime, employers must:

• Seek volunteers to work from those already working.
• Contact qualified employees who made themselves available to work.
• Seek the use of per diem staff.
• Pursue contracted temporary agency employees.
• You are in the middle of a procedure, and they have not been able to find relief, using the methods above.

Employers can only compel overtime for techs and CNAs if none of these options work.

Scheduled call can’t be used to replace overtime

If you already have an on-call shift scheduled, your employer cannot use it in the following ways:

• To replace members who work regularly scheduled shifts—for example, to cover sick calls.
• To cover expected changes in patient census.
• In lieu of scheduling employees to work regularly scheduled shifts when a staffing plan indicates the need for a scheduled shift.

Mandatory, prescheduled on-call can be used for true patient care emergencies only.

We have the power to enforce the new law!

If we are made to work overtime when there is not an emergency, if we don’t get rest after more than 12 hours of work, or if we believe our employer has not made a reasonable effort to avoid overtime, it’s our time to act!

Contact your delegate or organizer if you are concerned about how overtime is being used in your workplace. We know that we will need to continue to unite in solidarity across job classes and across the state of Washington to make sure our healthcare employers are following our new rights. We will need to take action and stand together to make sure none of us gets left behind.