Health Care Financing
Massachusetts bill would loosen shift rules for long-term care workers
The proposal would bar staffing platforms from setting mandatory availability windows or tying access to specific shifts. It also would stop platforms from blocking workers from taking jobs elsewhere.
Massachusetts lawmakers are considering a bill that would give long-term care nurses, aides and other licensed staff more control over when they work. It would limit how staffing platforms can set schedules, and it would keep workers from being locked into one app.
- Mandatory availability windows would be off-limits.
- Workers could not be forced to accept specific shifts.
- The bill covers nurses, aides and other licensed staff in long-term care.
- Doctors, interns, residents and management are excluded.
- The change would take effect Dec. 31, 2026.
Massachusetts lawmakers would give long-term care nurses, aides and other licensed staff more control over when they work by limiting how staffing platforms can control schedules. The bill would bar a platform from unilaterally setting specific dates, times of day or minimum hours of availability, or from making access depend on taking a specific shift or number of shifts. If enacted, it would take effect Dec. 31, 2026.
Representative John J. Lawn, Jr., a Democrat from the 10th Middlesex and chair of the Health Care Financing Committee, is behind the proposal.
Who the bill reaches
The measure is written around licensed, registered or credentialed health care workers who provide care or directly related services in a long-term care facility. That covers registered nurses, licensed practical nurses, certified nurse aides, nurse aides and dental hygienists. It does not cover doctors, interns, residents or facility management personnel.
The facilities at the center of the bill are long-term care facilities licensed under state law, and the platforms are online-enabled services that let workers accept one or more shifts at those facilities.
What the app could no longer demand
The point of the bill is control, not pay. A staffing platform could still connect workers with shifts, but it could not force a worker into a fixed schedule, require a certain number of shifts as the price of staying on the platform, or block that worker from taking jobs with other entities.
For workers who juggle family responsibilities, school or another job, that distinction matters. The bill does not set wages, benefits or staffing minimums. It redraws the line around who gets to decide when the workday starts and ends.