[Congressional Bills 107th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 1289 Introduced in House (IH)]







107th CONGRESS
  1st Session
                                H. R. 1289

   To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to prohibit forced 
       overtime hours for certain licensed health care employees.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             March 29, 2001

   Mr. Lantos (for himself, Mr. McGovern, Ms. Solis, Mr. Bonior, Mr. 
 Frank, Mr. Hilliard, Ms. Kilpatrick, Mr. Thompson of Mississippi, Mr. 
 Kildee, Ms. McKinney, Mr. Kucinich, Ms. Roybal-Allard, Ms. Lee, Mrs. 
    Napolitano, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Filner, Ms. Kaptur, Mr. Baca, Mr. 
  Delahunt, Mr. Brady of Pennsylvania, and Mr. Borski) introduced the 
 following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Education and 
                             the Workforce

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
   To amend the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 to prohibit forced 
       overtime hours for certain licensed health care employees.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Registered Nurses and Patients 
Protection Act''.

SEC. 2. NURSES AND OVERTIME HOURS.

    Section 7(j) of the Fair Labor Standards Act of 1938 (29 U.S.C. 
207(j)) is amended--
            (1) by striking ``No employer'' and inserting ``(1) Subject 
        to paragraph (2), no employer''; and
            (2) by adding at the end the following:
    ``(2) An employer described in paragraph (1) may not require an 
employee covered by an agreement or understanding described in 
paragraph (1) who is a licensed health care employee (including a 
registered nurse but not including a physician) to work more than 8 
hours in any workday or 80 hours in any 14-day work period, except in 
the case of a natural disaster or while a Federal, State, or local 
declaration of a state of emergency is in effect in the locality in 
which such employee is employed. No such employer may discriminate or 
take any other adverse action against such an employee for declining to 
work more than 8 hours in a workday or 80 hours in a 14-day work 
period. Such an employee may voluntarily work more than 8 hours in any 
workday or more than 80 hours in a 14-day work period. Notwithstanding 
any provision of title 5 or title 38, United States Code, to the 
contrary, this paragraph applies to an employee appointed under either 
such title who is a licensed health care employee (including a 
registered nurse but not including a physician).''.
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