HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES |

RECEIVED
SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC ) pare, 1 5 AUG 2016
OF THE PHILIPPINES ) Tive_O:40t4
First Regular Session ) By:

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HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

HB. No RESISTRATION UNIT

BILLS AND INDEX SERVICE

Introduced by Representative H. Harry L, Roque Jr

LIMITING THE CONSECUTIVE HOURS OF WORK BY NURSES
EXPLANATORY NOTE

The Constitution, Article 13, Section 11, para. 1, provides:

The State shall adopt an integrated and comprehensive approach to
health development which shall endeavor to make essential goods, health

and other social services available to all the people at affordable cost,

While the Constitution tasks the State to ensure that the populace will be able to
afford essential health services, the Philippine Overseas Employment Administration
(POEA) reported that 13,536 Filipino nurses went overseas in 2001, almost double the
previous year’s exodus of 7,683 nurses. The 2001 figure is the highest ever recorded, The
same year, only 4,430 students passed the Nursing Board Examination. This statistics
would show that we are steadily losing skilled medical professionals, specifically the
nurses

In a PCIJ report, among the reasons cited by health workers bound for abroad are

political instability, corruption and the need for political backing in order to get a job or a


promotion, While they cite economic reasons as the biggest factor, they also deplore the

long hours of work required of them

This bill, while answering only the hours of work factor, hopefully will be the seed

that will address the continuing flight of our country’s health care professionals to other

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H. HARRY L. ROQUE JR.

lands. |

' -This bill was originally filed during the Fourteenth Congress, First Regular Session, and
subsequently filed in the Sixteenth Congress, Second Regular Session.

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SEVENTEENTH CONGRESS OF THE REPUBLIC)
OF THE PHILIPPINES )
First Regular Session )

HOUSE OF REPI FATIVES
HB. No. "2835"

Introduced by Representative H. Harry L. Roque Jr.

AN ACT
LIMITING THE CONSECUTIVE HOURS OF WORK BY NURSES.

Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the Philippines in
Congress assembled:

SECTION 1. Definition of Terms. — As used in this Act, the following terms shall
be defined as follows:

A. “Emergency” is defined as an unforeseen event that could not be prudently
planned for and does not regularly occur in the facility;

B. “Health Care Employer” shall mean any individual, partnership, association,
corporation, or any person or group of persons acting directly or indirectly on behalf of or
in the interest of the employer, which provides Health care services in a facility licensed
to operate as such including any facility operated by the State, a Political Subdivision or a
Public Corporation;

C. “Nurse” shall mean a registered professional nurse as certified by the
Professional Regulatory Board:
D. “Regularly Scheduled Work Hours” shall mean those hours a nurse has agreed

to work and is normally scheduled to work pursuant to the budgeted hours allocated to


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the nurse’s position by the health care employer; and if no such allocation system exists,
some other measure generally used by the health care employer to determine when an
employee is minimally supposed to work, consistent with the collective bargaining
agreement, if any;

SECTION 2. Prohibition of Excessive Work Hours. ~ Notwithstanding any other
provision of law

(A) No health care employer shall require a nurse to remain on duty for a period

longer than eight consecutive hours, or forty hours in a

even day work week, except as
consistent with the nurse’s regularly scheduled work hours; and
(B) No health care employer shall require a nurse to work more than that nurse’s

regularly scheduled work hours, except pursuant to subdivision three of this Act

SECTION 3. Exceptions to the Prohibition, ~ ‘The Limitations provided for in this
section shall not apply in the case of,
(A) Health Care Disaster such as a natural or other type of disaster that increases

the need for health care personnel, unexpectedly affecting the country ; or

(B) A declaration of emergency in effect in the region in which the licensed health
care employee is employed; or

(C) Where a health care employer determines there is an emergency necessary to
provide safe patient care, in which case the health care provider shall, before requiring an

on-duty employee to remain, make a good faith effort to have overtime covered on a


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voluntary basis, including, but not limited to, calling per diems, agency nurses, assigning

floats, or requesting an additional day off work from off-duty employees;

SECTION 4, No Prohibition Against Voluntary Overtime. ~ Nothing in this Act

shall prohibit a nurse from voluntarily working overtime

SE

TION 5, Penalty. ~ The Health Care Employer found guilty of violating this
Act shall be fined the amount of One Hundred Thousand Pesos (P100,000) in addition to

other damages that shall be imposed by the proper court.

SCTION 6. Separability Clause. ~ If any provision of this Act is held invalid or
unconstitutional, the same shall not affect the validity and effectivity of the other

provisions hereof.

SECTION 7. Repealing Clause. — All laws, decrees, orders, and issuances, or
portions thereof, which are inconsistent with the provisions of this Act, are hereby

repealed, amended or modified accordingly.

SECTION 8. Effectivity Clause. — This Act shall take effe

its publication in the Official Gazette or in two (2) newspapers of general circulation.

Approved,

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