COUNTYWIDE : 4-Day Workweek for Nurses Proposed

A contract adjustment that will be considered Tuesday by the Ventura County Board of Supervisors would allow county mental-health nurses to begin four-day workweeks later this month.

Last month, nurses in the county’s in-patient Mental Health Center started wearing black to work to protest the county’s failure to implement the four-day workweek that they say was promised two years ago.

Nurses said the change from their traditional workweek of five eight-hour days to four 10-hour days would keep nurses with their patients longer, improve morale and reduce daily car trips.

Administrators for the county’s Mental Health Services Department said they support the change but delayed implementing it because of technical questions, such as when to begin paying overtime. The nurses’ contract calls for paid overtime for work after an eight-hour shift, which routinely would be exceeded on a four-day schedule.

The adjustment to the nurses contract received tentative approval by supervisors last week and will be considered Tuesday for final approval. It would begin paying overtime for work after a regular scheduled shift in a 24-hour period.

Duane Essex, deputy director of the county Mental Health Services Department, said the new schedules can begin the last week of June.