093_HB2376eng HB2376 Engrossed LRB093 06976 AMC 07125 b 1 AN ACT concerning health care. 2 Be it enacted by the People of the State of Illinois, 3 represented in the General Assembly: 4 Short title. This Act may be cited as the Nursing and 5 Hospital Worker Protection Act. 6 Section 5. Definitions. For the purposes of this Act: 7 "Employee" means any individual permitted to work by an 8 employer in an occupation, including both individuals hired 9 directly by the company and those hired pursuant to a 10 contract with an outside entity, such as a staffing agency. 11 "Employer" means any person or entity licensed under the 12 Hospital Licensing Act, or the parent or holding company of 13 such person or entity, who directly or indirectly, or through 14 an agent or any other person, employs or exercises control 15 over the wages, hours, or working conditions of any person. 16 "Health System" means a company (i) that is non-profit or 17 for-profit, religious or non-religious and (ii) that owns, 18 operates, or controls more than 2 hospitals. 19 "Hospital" means an entity licensed under the Hospital 20 Licensing Act. 21 "Nurse" means a person licensed as a registered nurse or 22 registered professional nurse under the Nursing and Advanced 23 Practice Nursing Act. 24 "Violation" means a finding by a court, governmental 25 commission, or neutral arbiter that wage and hour laws or 26 regulations were violated. 27 "Wage and hour laws or regulations" means any State or 28 federal law that regulates the hours and wages paid or worked 29 by registered nurses. 30 Section 10. Limits on mandatory overtime. A nurse may not HB2376 Engrossed -2- LRB093 06976 AMC 07125 b 1 be disciplined, discriminated against, dismissed, discharged 2 or retaliated against, or made subject to any other adverse 3 employment decision for refusing to work more than 12 4 consecutive hours a day or 40 hours per week. A nurse may be 5 disciplined for refusing mandatory overtime in the case of an 6 unforeseen emergency when overtime is required as a last 7 resort to ensure patient safety. A nurse who is mandated to 8 work more than 12 consecutive hours, as permitted by this 9 Section, must be allowed at least 24 consecutive hours of 10 off-duty time immediately following the worked overtime. 11 Section 15. Wage and hour provisions for registered 12 nurses. 13 (a) Any employer that is a health system as defined in 14 this Act and commits more than 500 violations of wage and 15 hour laws or regulations for registered nurses within a 16 3-year period shall be fined up to 5% of gross hospital 17 patient revenues. 18 (b) The fine monies shall be allocated to the Department 19 of Public Health for nursing scholarships awarded pursuant to 20 the Nursing Education Scholarship Law in addition to any 21 other funds set aside and appropriated for that purpose. 22 (c) The Attorney General shall determine if 500 23 violations were committed and set the penalty based on the 24 severity of the violations. 25 Section 20. Rest periods. A hospital employee must 26 receive a 30-minute meal period and 2 15-minute rest periods 27 for every 5 hours of work. Pursuant to mutual consent by the 28 employer and the employee, an employee may (i) waive a 29 30-minute meal period if the day's work will be completed in 30 no more than 6 hours or (ii) may waive the second of 2 31 30-minute meal periods when the day's work will be completed 32 in no more than 12 hours and the first 30-minute meal period HB2376 Engrossed -3- LRB093 06976 AMC 07125 b 1 was not waived. 2 When an employer fails to provide a meal or rest period 3 in accordance with the applicable provisions of this Act, the 4 employer shall pay the employee one additional hour of pay at 5 the employee's regular rate of compensation for each workday 6 that the meal or rest period is not provided. 7 Section 99. Effective date. This Act takes effect upon 8 becoming law.