Backus nurses say hospital broke law banning mandatory overtime

Oct. 16—NORWICH — Registered nurses at Backus Hospital are seeking a court order stopping the hospital from requiring nurses to work overtime, a practice they say puts patients at risk.

The nurses’ union – the Backus Federation of Nurses, AFT Connecticut Local 5149 – filed a request for an injunction in New London Superior Court on Tuesday.

“Patient care is at stake, which is why we are asking a judge to intervene,” Sherri Dayton, president of the 415-member local, said in a statement. “We warned floor managers of the danger in late August when they began asking nurses to be ‘on call’ and then work beyond their 12-hour shifts. They left us with no choice but to seek legal intervention on behalf of our patients. “.

Dayton works at Backus Urgent Care Center in Plainfield.

Hartford HealthCare, which owns and operates Backus, released the statement Wednesday in response to a request for comment.

“We are surprised and disappointed by this complaint, as we are working with the AFT to create a subcommittee on this specific issue,” a spokeswoman wrote in an email. “As a long-standing and common practice in the industry, nurses are assigned their on-call shifts and have the flexibility to work with their colleagues to adjust their schedules if they choose.”

In May, union officials negotiated an extension of the union’s contract with Hartford HealthCare, codifying a state law prohibiting mandatory overtime, according to the union’s complaint. Relevant language in so-called “patient safety limits” legislation passed in 2023 prohibits hospital administrators from requiring nurses to work more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period, the complaint states.

“Defendant’s continued violation of the law places its patients at increased risk of suffering from medical errors as a result of nurses being forced to work more than 12 hours in a 24-hour period and being held back and seeing their shift extended 12-hour shift,” the complaint alleges. “Both increase the risk to patient safety and violate state law.”

The union’s contract with Backus, which expired June 2, was extended for 30 days through an agreement between the parties, according to the complaint.

“Although the parties’ CBA (collective bargaining agreement) included provisions permitting the hospital to assign nurses to work mandatory overtime, the parties’ extension agreement specifically excluded this provision authorizing mandatory overtime and said provision expired on June 2, 2024.” says the complaint.

The union first filed a complaint with the state Department of Public Health, which said it should have been filed with the state Department of Labor. Then, in late August, the union filed an online complaint with the Department of Labor and received no response, according to the court filing.

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