Department of State Hospitals – Patton
Meet and Confer Regarding 12 hour shifts for RNs

On Thursday, August 19, 2021, we met with the Department of State Hospitals (DSH) regarding the change to 12 hour shifts for RNs at Patton State Hospital. While the change to 12 hour shifts is definite and coming, the process and manner in which that change is accomplished and implemented is still being negotiated.

We confirmed there will be no change or impact to approved vacation or leave requests. We also confirmed that anyone with a reasonable or religious accommodation will not automatically be required to reapply but may need to reapply on a case-by-case basis if their accommodation is specific to a schedule or shift based need.

Regarding the transition to 12 hour shifts, DSH wanted to facilitate this shift change through a hospital wide post-and-bid process that would also open and impact unit and schedule assignments.

We pushed back. We argued that this was overly invasive, would cause unnecessary chaos and confusion, and have an adverse impact on the continuity of care for the patients. We also raised the issue that a hospital wide post-and-bid for all positions (vacant and occupied) is in opposition to the current post-and-bid process established in the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), and that Patton State Hospital has yet to finalize a full post-and-bid process that complies with the requirements of the MOU.

Instead of handling the change to 12 hour shifts and reviving and finalizing the post-and-bid process together at the same time, we proposed that they tackle the 12 hour shift change and post-and-bid process individually and separately. That way the change would be less impactful to employees and patients, and it would provide more time to have a deeper, more productive conversation about a long term post-and-bid process.

After a more involved conversation, DSH was more receptive to our position and concerns. They agreed to further meetings and discussion over how to accomplish the transition to 12 hour shifts. We are looking to hold a follow up meeting very soon, where we hope to finalize the timeline and transition to 12 hour shifts that is best for our represented employees and honors the current post-and-bid process.