As of January 1st, our Whistleblower Protection law (AB 1102, which amends Section 1278.5 of the Health and Safety Code) is in effect! Now, if a hospital and/or our supervisors discipline us for blowing the whistle on unsafe assignments (click here for details), they will pay a much higher fine for willful violation of whistleblower protection laws—up to $75,000! Our continued commitment to fighting against unlawful assignments sends a clear message to profit-minded hospitals: cutting corners comes with a big price tag.

Do you know what to do when you're given an unlawful assignment?

The state of California sets minimum staffing requirements, called Title 22 regulations, that hospitals must follow when giving us an assignment. These regulations set a cap on how many patients we can legally accept. If we accept anything over that maximum assignment, we put our license at risk. All nurses can refuse to go out of ratio (see unit-by-unit ratios here), except in the case of an emergency.

Follow the steps in the flowchart below.

Click here to download a flyer to print out and share with your colleagues.

Click here to be a part of our UNITED efforts to PASS LAWS that improve patient and nurse safety!