Nurses work hard and incur substantial time and expense to earn their state nursing license. The last thing a nurse wants to do is to lose their license due to circumstances, only to have to reapply, once again prove the education and good character requirements, and take the National Council Licensure Exam (NCLEX) again. Yet nurses do suffer or take breaks, sometimes long breaks, in employment for various good reasons, and those breaks can, in the worst cases, make it difficult to maintain a license. If you face nursing license issues because of a break in employment or other circumstances, retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team for your best possible licensing outcome. We are available nationwide to help you address your nursing license issues. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for skilled and experienced representation by our premier attorneys.
Nursing Board Licensing Authority
You are thinking correctly if you are concerned about the potential effect on your license from an upcoming or ongoing break from your nursing employment. Nurses should be constantly aware of their state's nursing license requirements, especially whenever facing an unusual event or circumstance related to their nursing practice and employment. Your state nursing board holds both licensing authority and license disciplinary authority. You must hold a license from your state nursing board to practice nursing in your state, and you may lose that license if you do not continue to meet your state board's licensing requirements. Louisiana's Nurse Practice Act is an example, authorizing the State Board of Nursing to both issue and suspend or revoke nursing licenses. Wisconsin's Nurse Practice Act is another example, authorizing the state's Board of Nursing to issue and suspend or revoke a license. Respect your nursing board's authority. Learn your nursing board's employment and other requirements before taking a break from employment. Retain us to help you confirm and meet those requirements if you have any question, challenge, or issue over your nursing license because of your employment break.
Causes of Nursing Employment Breaks
You may have very good and even necessary reasons to take a break from your nursing employment. Injuries, illness, marriage, pregnancies, child rearing, and other family and dependent care responsibilities can all warrant or require a break from nursing employment. One event or condition may lead to another, compounding the need for an employment break. Better to take a necessary or helpful break than to suffer burnout, undue stress, and other work, personal, and family issues. Breaks can restore and improve your physical and mental health and well being, stabilize important family relationships, and allow you to adventure, grow, and accomplish other important things. Breaks can also make you a better person and a better nurse, depending on how you use them.
Effects of Nursing Employment Breaks
As necessary or laudable as a break from your nursing employment may be, the issue that may concern your state nursing board is that your break from nursing employment may affect your competence to resume nursing practice. Nursing knowledge and skill can wane when unused. Nursing practices and standards also change over time. Employment breaks, when you are not using your nursing knowledge and skills and not keeping up with changes in practice, can affect your competence to resume employment. State nursing boards deal with that concern by imposing continuing competence requirements.
Continuing Competence Requirements
You learned your state nursing board's initial education, examination, and good character requirements when you first gained your nursing license. You may be surprised to learn, though, that state nursing boards may require proof of your continuing competence when you apply to renew your nursing license. State nursing licenses generally require license renewal every two years. State nursing boards vary in their renewal requirements but generally require some form of proof of your continuing competence. Your active nursing practice during the prior two years before license renewal may help you meet your state nursing board's continuing competence requirements.
The North Carolina Board of Nursing is an example. In North Carolina, you can meet the Board of Nursing's continuing competence requirement in several different ways. Varying amounts of continuing education hours, alone or together with active nursing practice hours, nursing studies, or nursing research and publication, satisfy North Carolina Board of Nursing continuing competence requirements. For instance, 15 hours of continuing education plus at least 640 hours of active nursing practice will meet the state's continuing competence requirement. Alternatively, 15 hours of continuing education while also authoring or co-authoring a nursing research article will meet the requirements. In North Carolina, you may also complete 30 hours of continuing education to meet the requirements or take a Board of Nursing-approved refresher course.
The Texas Board of Nursing is another example. Texas Board of Nursing Rule 216.3 states the Board's continuing competence requirements. In most cases, 20 contact hours of continuing education will satisfy the Texas Board of Nursing's continuing competence requirements, although nurses practicing in certain fields or performing certain nursing services may require additional special continuing education. In Texas, active nursing practice during the renewal period does not reduce the number of continuing education hours the Board of Nursing requires.
Continuing Education During Employment Breaks
Another issue, then, is that you must, during your nursing break, complete any continuing education necessary to maintain your license. Failure to complete continuing education is grounds for the state board of nursing to deny you a license renewal or to suspend or revoke your license if your state follows an audit procedure. Your state nursing board likely requires continuing education in the form of a certain number of contact hours, meaning specific hours of qualifying continuing education instruction. While some organizations in some states may offer free continuing education hours, many courses charge a fee. Your current nursing employer may pay for your continuing education, whereas you may have to pay for those hours on your own if not employed. Also, while much continuing education occurs online, some preferred courses may require personal attendance or certain synchronous electronic access. Investigate continuing education courses, costs, and opportunities to be sure that you can access and pay for the necessary contact hours.
License Renewal During Employment Breaks
Another issue that may arise during a break from nursing employment is that you must ordinarily renew your license every two years. If you fail to renew your license when renewal is due, your license will lapse, and you may lose your license. Your current employer may pay for your license renewal fee as a benefit of your employment. Confirm that you will be able to access and complete the renewal application and pay the renewal fee during your break from nursing employment. Make arrangements for your license renewal if your break includes overseas or other remote travel away from online access and records information you may need to complete the renewal forms. And be sure you can afford license renewal.
License Status During Employment Breaks
State nursing boards may have several available license statuses relating to breaks from nursing employment. Your nursing license status may not be as simple and straightforward as either having a license or not having a license. The nursing laws in Arizona provide an example. The Arizona Nurse Practice Act authorizes the Arizona State Board of Nursing to place a nursing license on any one of four different statuses. Those statuses include:
● inactive status for nurses who do not wish to practice at the current time but may return to practice in the future. Under Arizona Statute Section 32-1642, the nurse seeking inactive license status must request that status in writing to the State Board of Nursing before the license lapses. Inactive status means that renewal fees do not accrue but that the nurse must complete all continuing competency requirements and pay the renewal fee to restore the license to active status;
● retired status for nurses who are concluding their nursing practice and do not intend to seek license restoration or renewal. The retiring nurse must request retired license status before the license expires;
● late renewal/lapsed status for nurses who neglect to timely renew their license within the renewal window but who, once notified or otherwise learning of the license lapse, intend to seek license renewal and resume practice before the renewal period expires; and
● expired status for nurses who neglect to renew their license during the renewal window or lapse period, resulting in the license's expiration. Nurses must not continue to practice nursing on an expired license or may face unlicensed practice penalties and charges.
Inactive Status During Employment Breaks
Some states, like California, permit you to place your nursing license on inactive status during an employment break. Inactive status may permit you to avoid meeting the continuing education requirement until you are ready to return to active status. In states like California recognizing inactive status, you may apply for license renewal and pay the renewal fee but indicate that you have not completed the required continuing education. The nursing board will then place your license on inactive status, allowing you to reactivate the license when you complete the necessary continuing education and are ready to resume employment. You must not practice nursing, though, on an inactive license. Doing so may result in disciplinary charges and the suspension or revocation of your license.
The Virginia Nurse Practice Act provides another example of inactive license status during an employment break. The Virginia act authorizes the Virginia Board of Nursing to promulgate administrative rules for inactive licenses. The Virginia Board of Nursing has done so in 18 Virginia Administrative Code 90-19-180, providing that nurses may move their license to inactive status for either one or two renewal periods but not longer. (The Virginia nursing license renewal period is two years.) The nurse renewing an inactive license within one renewal period need only pay the renewal fee and prove the necessary continuing education. The nurse renewing an inactive license within a second renewal period must complete an additional specified learning activity or course.
Recordkeeping During Employment Breaks
Recordkeeping is another issue that may arise from an employment break. State licensing boards may not keep any record of your continuing education. State licensing boards may not even require you to prove your continuing education when you renew your license. Instead, they annually audit a significant percentage of nurses for their continuing education proof. In those states, you must maintain your own documentation of your continuing education, or you may lose your license on an audit. Michigan's Bureau of Professional Licensing, for example, is located within the state's Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs and follows that audit and documentation procedure. Be ready to maintain your continuing education documentation during your break from nursing employment. Retain us if you face licensing board questions and challenges over the sufficiency of your continuing education documentation.
Gaining Reemployment After Employment Break
Another issue that could arise is that you could face difficulty regaining appropriate reemployment as a nurse after your employment break, especially if you have allowed your license to fall into inactive status or allowed it to lapse and need to complete its permissible renewal in a timely manner. Nurses are generally in high demand. You may find abundant employment opportunities. But you won't regain nursing practice employment without a renewed and active license. Hospitals and other employers cannot employ unlicensed nurses for nursing practice. Let us help you resolve your licensing issues so that you can regain the nursing employment you desire when your employment break concludes.
Alternatives to Employment Breaks
Given the above issues with breaks from nursing employment, you may want to reconsider your plans. You may have good alternatives that will accomplish your objectives, but avoid some of the above challenges. You may, for instance, inquire of your current employer if they offer a nursing assignment more suited to your scheduled needs or offer part-time employment. You may find that your current employer also offers a leave option that will keep your job open upon your return and may maintain benefits such as paying for your continuing education. You may alternatively find that you can just take a good, long vacation, enough to recharge your batteries and return to your regular nursing employment. You may also find that other nursing employment offers better hours, better working conditions, and even flexible nurse staffing assignments so that you do not need a long break from nursing employment. Investigate the alternatives if the above issues appear to you to be daunting.
Allowing Your Nursing License to Lapse
If you fail or decline to renew your nursing license before its expiration, it will lapse. State nursing boards may permit you to reinstate your license within two years or another brief period after its lapse if you can demonstrate the necessary continuing competence, typically through continuing education. However, failure to renew your lapsed license within that period may result in its permanent lapse, meaning that you would have to repeat the NCLEX and meet the other initial licensing requirements, with no advantage from having previously possessed a license. Weigh carefully whether you should let your license lapse. Investigate the time limits for renewing a lapsed license before allowing its lapse so that you are sure you know when your last chance may be to renew your license. Let us help you confirm the requirements if you have any questions that your state nursing board is not answering clearly and in a documented manner.
Board Procedures Over Licensing Issues
If your state nursing board suspends or revokes your license over your employment break or declines or refuses to renew your license relating to your employment break, your state law likely authorizes a procedure in which you can challenge that issue. States may not generally deprive a professional of a license necessary for their practice and employment without providing due process of law. You have the constitutional right to due process when a state agency deprives you of a property or liberty interest, like the interests you hold in your nursing license, employment, and practice. Ohio is an example, providing in Ohio Revised Code Section 119.06 for hearings to review the final decisionsof the state's licensing boards, including the Ohio Board of Nursing. You will very likely have a similar administrative procedure available to you in your state to challenge your nursing board's refusal to renew your nursing license or otherwise keep your license in good standing.
Notice of Licensing Decision
Administrative procedures like the one just referenced above are not self-executing. Your state board of nursing will instead do as it discerns that it must or can do, refusing to renew your license or otherwise suspending or revoking your license relating to your employment break. You should, however, receive the state board's notice of its license action. That notice may disclose to you the available review procedure. It may also state time limits and other procedural requirements for invoking the review procedure. We do not recommend doing so on your own. Administrative procedures can be exceedingly complex, involving multiple statutes and rules. Strategic use of those procedures to reverse a state board of nursing license decision generally takes considerable knowledge, skill, and experience. Don't go it alone or with unqualified representation. Delayed action or the wrong action may complicate your case for license restoration. Retain our highly skilled and experienced attorneys to invoke your state nursing board review procedures strategically and effectively.
The Attorney's Role in Nursing Board Procedures
Our attorneys can, first of all, identify the correct administrative procedures to challenge your state nursing board's action affecting your license, such as a refusal to renew it. We can then timely invoke those procedures with an appropriate complaint specifying your legal grounds to reverse the nursing board's decision. Our attorneys can prepare your evidence and arguments, making the necessary pre-hearing submissions. We can then attend the formal hearing on your challenge, presenting your testimony and other evidence warranting restoration of your nursing license while making the legal arguments that the review panel understands and can accept as grounds for the relief you need. If you have already suffered an adverse hearing decision, we can identify and pursue available administrative appeals. Court review of a final administrative decision may also be available under your state's Administrative Procedures Act. Let us help you exhaust all avenues for relief until you regain your nursing license.
Retaining Qualified Counsel in Licensing Proceedings
Do not make the mistake of retaining unqualified representation in your administrative procedure over your nursing license. Local criminal defense attorneys, real estate lawyers, and civil litigators generally lack the substantial administrative knowledge, skill, and experience necessary for effective representation in a professional licensing proceeding. Criminal and civil court rules and procedures differ from administrative license proceedings. You need our attorney's highly skilled and experienced representation. We know the evidence to gather, the arguments to make, and the manner and tone in which to make those arguments effectively, unique to administrative license proceedings. Our attorneys also have the reputation and relationships to gain the trust, respect, and confidence of administrative and licensing officials. Let us review your case and advise you about potential available special alternative relief, even if you have already lost your case without apparent routes for further review.
Premier Attorneys for Nursing License Defense
Retain the Lento Law Firm's premier Professional License Defense Team if you face state nursing board challenges to your nursing license due to a break in your nursing employment. We are available to represent you and defend your nursing license, no matter your nationwide location or your specific licensing issue. Our attorneys have helped hundreds of nurses and other professionals defend and retain their licenses in the face of all kinds of issues. Call 888.535.3686 or complete this contact form now for our premier license defense representation.
