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Your rights / Mandatory overtime and staffing
Whether your employer can make you stay past your shift, and which states set ratios, staffing plans or committees you can use.
Every rule here was read on the statute, regulation or agency page it cites. Checked November 10, 2026.
General information, not legal advice. Laws change and your facts decide how they apply. Before you act, confirm with the agency listed here or with an employment lawyer or your union representative.
Federal wage law does not limit how many hours an adult can be required to work; it only requires overtime pay. Limits on mandatory overtime come from state law, a union contract or employer policy.
Who it covers: Workers aged 16 and older.
"There is no limit in the Act on the number of hours employees aged 16 and older may work in any workweek."
In an Alaska health care facility, you can't be required or pressured to work past your agreed, regularly scheduled shift, or to take overtime you judge would jeopardize patient or employee safety. After your scheduled shift you're entitled to at least 10 consecutive hours off. Overtime you volunteer for falls outside these limits only while you stay within 14 consecutive hours. A complaint to the state labor commissioner has to be filed within 30 days of the violation.
Who it covers: RNs and LPNs giving direct patient care in Alaska health care facilities, except facilities run by the federal government or a tribal health organization.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"to accept an assignment of overtime if, in the judgment of the nurse, the overtime would jeopardize patient or employee safety."
If you work a 12-hour alternative workweek shift in California health care, you can't be required to work past 12 hours in 24 unless the chief nursing officer or an authorized executive declares a health care emergency and reasonable staffing steps have failed. Even then, nobody can be required to go past 16 hours in 24 without agreeing to it.
Who it covers: Employees on 12-hour alternative workweek shifts in the health care industry under IWC Wage Order 5 (hospitals, SNFs, home health, 24-hour clinics and similar).
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"shall be required to work more than 12 hours in any 24 hour period unless the Chief Nursing Officer or authorized executive declares that"
A Connecticut hospital can't require you to work overtime, meaning past a shift posted at least 48 hours ahead, more than 12 hours in 24, or more than 48 hours in its work week. It can't discipline, fire, threaten or otherwise retaliate against you for refusing. Even in an exception, it has to try volunteers first, and it can't use mandatory overtime to cover routine staffing gaps, expected absences or approved time off.
Who it covers: RNs, LPNs and registered nurse's aides working in Connecticut hospitals.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"No hospital shall discriminate against, discharge, discipline, threaten to discharge or discipline or otherwise retaliate against a nurse for refusing to work overtime."
An Illinois hospital can only mandate overtime in an unforeseen emergent circumstance, only as a last resort, and never more than 4 hours past your agreed shift. Short staffing for the usual, predictable patient load doesn't qualify. After a mandated stretch of up to 12 hours you get at least 8 consecutive hours off, and you can't be disciplined or fired for refusing overtime the law doesn't allow. Complaints go to the Illinois Department of Public Health within 45 days.
Who it covers: Hourly RNs, LPNs and APRNs (not CRNAs working as anesthetists) with direct nursing care duties in Illinois hospitals.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"No nurse may be required to work mandated overtime except in the case of an unforeseen emergent circumstance when such overtime is required only as a last resort."
In Maine, you can't be disciplined for refusing to work more than 12 consecutive hours. If you are mandated past 12 hours in an allowed situation, you get at least 10 consecutive hours off right afterward. Separately, most Maine employers can't require more than 80 hours of overtime (hours over 40 a week) in any two-week stretch; that cap has its own list of exemptions.
Who it covers: Nurses employed by private and public employers in Maine, including the State.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"a nurse may not be disciplined for refusing to work more than 12 consecutive hours."
A Maryland employer can't require an RN or LPN to work past the regularly scheduled hours on the predetermined schedule. Mandatory overtime is allowed only when every condition in the law is met at once, including a nonrecurring emergency the employer couldn't reasonably anticipate and exhausted efforts to get volunteers. Once you've reported the patient's status and handed care off to another appropriate nurse, you aren't responsible for that patient past your scheduled hours.
Who it covers: Licensed RNs and LPNs in Maryland.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"an employer may not require a nurse to work more than the regularly scheduled hours according to the predetermined work schedule."
A Massachusetts hospital can't require you to work past your agreed, regularly scheduled hours (and that schedule can't exceed 12 hours in 24) unless patient safety demands it in an emergency with no reasonable alternative, and it has to try volunteers first. Nobody works more than 16 consecutive hours, followed by at least 8 off. Refusing work beyond these limits can't be grounds for discrimination, dismissal or any other employment decision, and hospitals must report every use of mandatory overtime to DPH.
Who it covers: Nurses delivering patient care in Massachusetts hospitals.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"The refusal of a nurse to accept work in excess of the limitations set forth in this section shall not be grounds for discrimination, dismissal, discharge or any other employment decision."
In Minnesota, a hospital or other MDH-licensed health care facility can't discipline, penalize, threaten, report you to the Board of Nursing, or otherwise act against you for turning down extra consecutive hours beyond your normal work period (12 hours or less) when, in your judgment, working them could jeopardize patient safety.
Who it covers: Nurses (as defined in the Nurse Practice Act) at hospitals and other facilities licensed by the commissioner of health, plus state-employed nurses in patient or resident care.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"if the nurse declines to work additional hours because doing so may, in the nurse's judgment, jeopardize patient safety."
In New Hampshire, an RN, LPN or LNA can't be disciplined or lose any right, benefit or privilege for refusing to work more than 12 consecutive hours. If you are mandated past 12 hours in an allowed situation, you get at least 8 consecutive hours off afterward.
Who it covers: RNs, LPNs and licensed nursing assistants in New Hampshire.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"shall not be disciplined, or lose any right, benefit, or privilege for refusing to work more than 12 consecutive hours"
A New Jersey health care facility can only require overtime in an unforeseeable emergent circumstance, as a last resort, and never to cover chronic short staffing (vacancies open 90 days or more). Before mandating, it has to seek volunteers, call on-call staff, and try per diem and agency staff, and it must give you up to an hour to arrange care for your kids or dependent family. It can't discriminate against or fire you for refusing overtime the law doesn't allow.
Who it covers: Hourly workers in direct patient care or clinical services at New Jersey health care facilities (facilities licensed by the Department of Health, State or county psychiatric hospitals, State developmental centers and registered health care service firms), including nurses and nurse aides; not physicians.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"the employer is prohibited from discriminating or discharging an employee who refuses to work overtime."
In New York, a health care employer can't require an RN or LPN to work past the hours you agreed to or are regularly scheduled for. Voluntary overtime is fine. Routine staffing gaps, normal absenteeism and approved time off don't count as an emergency, and the employer must try to cover the hours voluntarily and use its Nurse Coverage Plan before mandating anyone.
Who it covers: RNs and LPNs at Article 28 facilities (hospitals, nursing homes, diagnostic and treatment centers), certain state-operated facilities, and OCFS-operated or licensed facilities.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"restricts health care employers, as defined in the statute, from requiring nurses to work beyond their regularly scheduled hours, with four limited exceptions."
An Oregon hospital can't make you work past your agreed shift, more than 48 hours in its work week, more than 12 hours in 24, or during the 10 hours after your 12th hour in a 24-hour period. Before mandating anyone, the hospital has to make every reasonable effort to find replacement staff.
Who it covers: Hospital nursing staff: RNs, LPNs, CNAs and other nursing staff the Oregon Health Authority defines by rule.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"a hospital may not require a nursing staff member to work: (A) Beyond the agreed-upon and prearranged shift, regardless of the length of the shift; (B) More than 48 hours in any hospital-defined work week; (C) More than 12 hours in a 24-hour period"
A Pennsylvania health care facility can't require you to work past your agreed, predetermined, regularly scheduled shift, and it can't retaliate if you refuse. You can still volunteer for overtime. Even in an allowed emergency, mandatory overtime has to be a last resort after reasonable efforts to find staff, and you get up to an hour to arrange care for a child or a dependent family member. If you end up working more than 12 straight hours, you can take 10 consecutive hours off right afterward (you can waive that). Complaints go to L&I's Bureau of Labor Law Compliance.
Who it covers: Hourly or nonsupervisory employees in direct patient care or clinical care services at Pennsylvania health care facilities, including state and local government facilities and staff placed by a personnel agency; not physicians, PAs, dentists, or non-clinical staff.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"However, an employer may not retaliate against an employee who refuses to work overtime."
A Rhode Island hospital can't require you to work past your agreed 8, 10 or 12-hour shift except in an unforeseeable emergent circumstance, and never more than 12 consecutive hours. Refusing that overtime can't be grounds for discipline, dismissal or any other adverse decision. Violations carry a $300 fine per violation, decided by the Department of Labor and Training.
Who it covers: Hourly licensed nurses and certified nursing assistants at private, public and state hospitals; not CRNAs, residents, salaried staff, or staff working prescheduled on-call time in surgery.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"In no case shall a health care facility require an employee to work in excess of twelve (12) consecutive hours."
A Texas hospital can't require an RN or LVN to work hours or days beyond what you're scheduled for, no matter how long your shift is, and you can refuse. The hospital can't suspend, fire, discipline or discriminate against you for refusing or for reporting violations, and it can't use on-call time as a substitute for mandatory overtime. Complaints go to the Health and Human Services Commission.
Who it covers: RNs and LVNs at Texas general, special and licensed mental hospitals, including state-run hospitals.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"A hospital may not require a nurse to work mandatory overtime, and a nurse may refuse to work mandatory overtime."
A Washington health care facility can't require you to work overtime. Overtime is strictly voluntary, and saying no can't be used against you in discipline, discharge, or any other adverse decision. If you accept overtime and go past 12 straight hours, you get the option of at least 8 consecutive hours off afterward.
Who it covers: Hourly (or union-contract) employees doing direct patient care or clinical services at Washington hospitals, hospices, rural health care facilities, behavioral health hospitals and correctional health care facilities that run around the clock, including public ones. Includes nurses, CNAs and many techs.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"the refusal of an employee to accept such overtime work is not grounds for discrimination, dismissal, discharge, or any other penalty"
A West Virginia hospital can't mandate or pressure you into overtime past your agreed, regularly scheduled shift, and it can't discipline, threaten, report you to the board, or penalize you for refusing when you judge the extra hours could jeopardize patient or employee safety. After 12 or more straight hours you get at least 8 hours off, and outside the listed exceptions nobody works more than 16 hours in 24. Complaints go to the Commissioner of Labor within 30 days.
Who it covers: RNs and licensed or certified LPNs in direct patient care or clinical services at licensed hospitals, including nurse managers when they deliver patient care; not CRNAs and not state or federal hospitals.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"a hospital is prohibited from mandating a nurse, directly or through coercion, to accept an assignment of overtime"
17 states have a rule we confirmed on the state's own statute or agency page. A state not listed may still have one; we add a state only after reading it at the source.
We found no federal rule that sets this. State law does, where a state has one.
California hospitals must meet licensed nurse-to-patient ratios at all times, not as a shift average. Key numbers: ICU and other critical care 1:2, ED 1:4 (critical ED patients 1:2, critical trauma 1:1), PACU 1:2, telemetry 1:4, med-surg 1:5, postpartum 1:4 couplets, and active labor 1:2.
Who it covers: Licensed nurses in California general acute care hospitals.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"Commencing January 1, 2005, the licensed nurse-to-patient ratio in medical/surgical care units shall be 1:5 or fewer at all times."
Every Colorado hospital must have a nurse staffing committee with at least 60% participation by clinical staff nurses who routinely give direct care. Each year it builds a master staffing plan with minimum staffing for every inpatient unit and the ED, which needs a 60% committee vote. The committee also runs a written process for staffing complaints and feedback, open to nurses, aides and EMS, that has to tell you how to complain to CDPHE.
Who it covers: Clinical staff nurses, nurse aides and other nursing staff at Colorado general hospitals licensed by CDPHE.
"Have at least 60% or greater participation by clinical staff nurses who routinely provide direct care to patients, in addition to auxiliary personnel and nurse management;"
Each Connecticut hospital must have a staffing committee that helps write the nurse staffing plan it files with the Department of Public Health twice a year. Direct care RNs make up at least half the committee plus one. If you have a union, it picks the direct care RN members and management chooses the one extra RN from the union's list. One co-chair is a direct care RN elected by the RN members, and committee time is paid at your regular rate with coverage so you can attend.
Who it covers: Direct care RNs in Connecticut licensed hospitals, including inpatient psych units in general hospitals.
"Each hospital shall establish a dedicated hospital staffing committee to assist in the preparation of the nurse staffing plan required pursuant to subsection (b) of this section."
Every Illinois hospital needs a nursing care committee that meets at least 6 times a year, with at least 55% of members being direct inpatient care RNs, who also elect a co-chair. The committee writes the hospital-wide staffing plan, including minimum RN staffing for each inpatient unit. If you object to a shift-to-shift staffing adjustment, you can file a written report with the committee, which must have a process to review and respond to it.
Who it covers: RNs providing direct inpatient care in Illinois hospitals.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"If a registered nurse in an inpatient care unit objects to a shift-to-shift adjustment, the registered nurse may submit a written report to the nursing care committee."
In every Massachusetts ICU, an RN's assignment is 1:1 or 1:2, based on patient stability as judged by the hospital's state-certified acuity tool and the unit's staff nurses, with the nurse manager stepping in only to resolve a disagreement.
Who it covers: RNs in Massachusetts hospital intensive care units, including state-run hospitals.
"in all intensive care units the patient assignment for the registered nurse shall be 1:1 or 1:2 depending on the stability of the patient"
Minnesota doesn't set ratios. Each hospital's chief nursing executive must build a core staffing plan for every inpatient care unit, listing the FTEs for each 24-hour period, after consulting with managerial and nonmanagerial care staff, and the plans and actual direct care hours per patient are published through the Minnesota Hospital Association.
Who it covers: RNs, LPNs and other nonmanagerial care staff at Minnesota hospitals.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"Core staffing plans shall specify the full-time equivalent for each patient care unit for each 24-hour period."
Larger Nevada hospitals (more than 70 licensed beds in a county of 100,000+) must have a staffing committee that meets at least quarterly and builds the documented staffing plan. At least half the regular members are direct care licensed nurses and CNAs, with one licensed nurse and one CNA from each unit elected by their unit peers.
Who it covers: Licensed nurses and CNAs providing direct patient care at Nevada hospitals with more than 70 licensed beds in counties of 100,000 or more.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"Not less than one-half of the total regular members of the staffing committee from the licensed nursing staff and certified nursing assistants who are providing direct patient care at the hospital."
Those same larger Nevada facilities must give every licensed nurse and CNA a written policy on refusing or objecting to an assignment. You can file an objection when an assignment violates the staffing law; you still take the assignment, and the facility has to respond within 45 days. You can ask to be relieved of an assignment for a reason the law allows, such as one you aren't trained or competent for, and the policy must let you refuse only when all three conditions below are met. The facility can't retaliate against you for refusing or objecting under that policy.
Who it covers: Licensed nurses and CNAs at Nevada-licensed hospitals, independent emergency centers, psychiatric hospitals and surgery centers with more than 70 licensed beds in counties of 100,000 or more.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"a written policy that sets forth the circumstances under which a licensed nurse or certified nursing assistant may refuse or object to a work assignment."
Every Ohio hospital must have a hospital-wide nursing care committee, and at least half its members must be RNs who give direct patient care. The committee evaluates the current staffing plan and recommends one that sets minimum staffing levels for all inpatient units based on acuity, patient load and the work of admissions, discharges and assessments. The CNO has to set up a way for direct care nurses on every inpatient unit to give input on it.
Who it covers: RNs providing direct patient care in Ohio hospitals.
"At least fifty per cent of the committee's membership shall consist of registered nurses who provide direct patient care in the hospital."
Oregon writes RN-to-patient ratios into law. Examples: ICU 1:2, intermediate care 1:3, med-surg, telemetry, oncology and pediatrics 1:4, operating room 1:1, PACU 1:2, and the ED may average no worse than 1:4 over 12 hours with no more than 5 patients per RN at once. CNAs max out at 7 patients on days and evenings and 11 on nights. The med-surg limit dropped from 1:5 to 1:4 on July 1, 2026. One shift over ratio is not by itself a violation: a unit can go over its plan up to six times in a rolling 30 days, and the unit manager has to report each one to the staffing committee within 10 days. If you're over ratio, document it and take it to your staffing committee, or file a staffing complaint with the Oregon Health Authority within 60 days of the shift. OHA cannot investigate a late complaint, and each over-ratio shift counts separately. Don't walk off: Oregon law bars a hospital RN from leaving an assignment during an agreed shift without supervisor authorization if that puts a patient at risk.
Who it covers: Direct care RNs and CNAs in Oregon hospitals.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"In a medical-surgical unit, a direct care registered nurse is assigned to no more than four patients."
Every Oregon hospital has a nurse staffing committee with equal numbers of nurse managers and direct care staff, and your union picks the direct care RN members if you have one. The committee writes and reviews the staffing plan at least once a year, and you can report a pattern of mandatory overtime for nonemergency care to it.
Who it covers: Direct care nursing staff in Oregon hospitals.
"For each hospital there shall be established a hospital nurse staffing committee."
Every Texas hospital must have a nurse staffing committee that meets at least quarterly, with at least 60% of members being direct care RNs chosen by their direct care peers. It recommends the staffing plan, which must set minimum staffing levels for each patient care unit, and it has to review and respond to staffing concerns you raise. Committee time is paid work time. Since September 1, 2025, the hospital can't retaliate against you for giving the committee information or reporting violations to management or the Health and Human Services Commission, which takes complaints.
Who it covers: RNs at Texas general, special and licensed mental hospitals.
"At least 60 percent of the members of the committee must be registered nurses who: (1) provide direct patient care during at least 50 percent of their work time"
If you're asked to take an assignment or do something you believe violates your duty to a patient, Texas lets you invoke Safe Harbor: request a nursing peer review determination on the Board's form, or orally to your supervisor if patient care can't wait (the supervisor writes it up and you both sign). A good-faith request can't be held against you, you can accept the assignment while review is pending without Board discipline for it, and if you refuse, the peer review result must be considered in any discipline decision.
Who it covers: Nurses at Texas facilities required to have a nursing peer review committee.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"the nurse may request, on a form developed by the board or on another form that meets standards developed by the board, a determination by a nursing peer review committee"
Every Washington hospital must run a hospital staffing committee that builds the unit staffing plans. At least half the voting members are nonsupervisory direct-care nursing staff, picked by your union or, if there isn't one, by your peers, and committee time is paid work time.
Who it covers: Nursing staff at Washington hospitals licensed under RCW 70.41.
Limits and exceptions to know (the law may have others; read the source):
"At least 50 percent of the voting members of the hospital staffing committee shall be nursing staff, who are nonsupervisory and nonmanagerial, currently providing direct patient care."
11 states have a rule we confirmed on the state's own statute or agency page. A state not listed may still have one; we add a state only after reading it at the source.
Statutes, regulations and agency pages only, each checked November 10, 2026. This page is free and no one paid to be on it.