Nurses protest mandatory overtime shifts

By Lauren Martinez

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    LAS VEGAS, Nevada (KVVU) — Nurses gathered outside University Medical Center holding signs that said, ‘overworked and understaffed,’ following a meeting about mandatory overtime shifts.

On Monday, March 7, UMC’s Chief Nursing Officer Deb Fox sent out an internal memo to the entire nursing staff regarding another round of mandatory overtime shifts starting March 16th. It would require one extra 12 hour shift per week for at least 60 days.

Elizabeth Bolhouse represents 1,400 nurses and CNA’s at UMC as the chief nursing steward from the union SEIU Local 1107.

She said the healthcare system is just catching up from the pandemic and there is still a large demand for healthcare services.

“People have postponed medical care during the whole pandemic and so now people are just catching up on their healthcare and people are coming in a little sicker than they normally would,” Bolhouse said.

Their contract does allow the hospital to enact mandatory shifts.

“So our contract does allow in case of emergency staffing need to institute mandatory overtime. Generally two week notice is required when you’re going to change our schedule,” Bolhouse said.

Prior to the protest, Bolhouse met with UMC’s senior CEO and chief human resource officer. On behalf of the union they filed three grievances they would like UMC to reconsider.

“We should have two week notice before the institution of mandatory overtime. And the second one was there should be a voluntary overtime list posted first, and then if we can’t fulfill that voluntary overtime then UMC has the right to seek mandatory. And the third one was reasonable accommodations for those that can’t fulfill the four day requirement from mandatory overtime,” Bolhouse said.

She felt comforted that UMC was willing to meet them at the table to discuss this.

“We do believe that UMC is going to re-evaluate right now on a unit-by-unit basis and see how they can possible reduce that demand so it’s not uniform across the whole division,” Bolhouse said. She went onto to say the meeting was very respectful.

“I truly felt like UMC appreciated us. That this situation…did not come out the way it was intended to,” Bolhouse said.

The internal memo about the mandatory overtime shifts characterized a lack of volunteers brought on by the loss of incentive pay.

UMC released the following statement:

“As we return to normal operations amid rapidly declining COVID-19 hospitalizations, UMC announced in late February the conclusion of COVID-19 incentive pay. As of today, we have 15 hospitalized COVID-19 patients at UMC, representing a significant decline from the peak of the omicron surge, when the hospital recorded daily totals of nearly 170 COVID-19 patients. While these incentives represented a significant expense for Southern Nevada’s only public hospital, UMC’s world-class nurses truly deserved this additional pay during the most challenging time in our hospital’s 90-year history. At this point, every local hospital has announced the end of COVID-19 incentive pay. As a taxpayer-funded nonprofit hospital, UMC has a unique responsibility to maintain a high level of fiscal responsibility.

With fewer team members volunteering for additional shifts, UMC made the decision to use the agreed-upon mechanisms outlined in our negotiated UMC/SEIU Collective Bargaining Agreement as a precautionary measure to ensure appropriate nurse-to-patient ratios. In support of our commitment to patient safety, UMC maintains the highest nurse-to-patient ratio in the state. The plan to introduce additional shifts serves as a short-term measure, and we remain confident that many of these shifts will not be necessary.

While this decision is a necessary step to ensure appropriate staffing levels, we sincerely regret the overall tone of the internal memo used to communicate this news to our nurses. We are taking important steps to further improve patient throughput and limit the need for additional overtime shifts. In addition, UMC continues to directly address staffing needs by recruiting and hiring additional nurses. Since January, UMC has hired 41 additional nurses, and we expect this trend to continue in the coming months as our team members work diligently to recruit highly qualified candidates amid a nationwide shortage of nurses.”

Bolhouse said UMC has seven days to come up with a plan that will work better for the hospital and nurses.

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