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Questions and Answers
What is the maximum number of hours that can be allocated to the PTO Reserve bank?
How many hours of sick leave are employees awarded at the beginning of the year?
What must employees provide if they call out sick for more than 48 hours?
What is the maximum sick leave payout available upon separation or retirement?
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How many sick leave hours can an employee accrue at maximum?
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What happens if an employee fails to provide a required physician's note after calling out sick?
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What is one reason why employees might use shift trading?
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What is the payout for an employee with the maximum sick leave hours at the end of the year?
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Who must approve all shift trades?
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What must happen if a firefighter calls out sick for a traded shift?
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What can happen if shift trading becomes excessive or disruptive?
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How should all shift trades and substitutions be documented?
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What is the minimum staffing level requirement for shift trading?
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How many shift substitutions are personnel allowed to make per month?
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In accordance with DOL regulations, what happens if a firefighter trades shifts?
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What is the consequence of failing to clock in/out?
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What is a requirement for shift substitutions to be valid?
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By what time must timecard entries be submitted to avoid payment delays?
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What is the holiday pay rate for employees working on designated holidays?
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When does the normal tour of duty start for full-time employees?
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How many tours of Paid Time Off (PTO) does the employee receive per year?
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What must new employees do regarding PTO usage during their first six months?
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How are employee benefits managed in terms of premium costs?
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What happens if there is a change in the payroll date due to holidays?
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What is the maximum number of shift substitutions allowed per month?
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What must employees do if they call out sick after agreeing to a shift substitution?
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Which of the following is NOT a condition for a Cadet Firefighter to work overtime?
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Who must approve unpaid shift requests?
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What happens if an employee calls off 3 or more shifts within a 12 month period?
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Which rank limitation is NOT true regarding shift substitutions?
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What is the primary employment status of employees at Spring Fire Department?
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What should a Cadet Firefighter prioritize over overtime work?
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What is the minimum number of shifts a part-time employee must turn in per month?
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What happens if a part-time employee calls off 3 or more shifts in a 12 month period?
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By what time must part-time employees turn in their availability for the upcoming month?
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Who should a part-time employee notify if they cannot meet the 8-shift requirement?
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What is the role of the District Chief when a part-time employee is suspended from working additional shifts?
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Which of the following is NOT mentioned as a reference or related policy?
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What should a part-time employee do if they choose to pick up open shifts?
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What is the effective date of the changes applied in Revision No. 8?
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Study Notes
Payroll Issues
- All payroll issues should be reported to the Payroll Department by an employee's supervisor.
- Failure to clock in or out is subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination
- Timecard entries must match the employee's schedule and be submitted by 10am on Monday morning of the payroll week.
Paid Annual Holidays
- Designated holidays receive time and a half pay for employees who work during the holiday period.
- Employees who work overtime on a paid holiday receive double time.
- Listed holidays are:
- New Year's Eve - Night shift (1800-0600)
- New Year's Day - Day shift (0600-1800)
- Martin Luther King Jr Day
- Easter Sunday
- Memorial Day
- July 4th
- Labor Day
- Thanksgiving
- Christmas Day
Full-Time Employees
- Full-time employees' standard work period is a 48-hour period beginning at 0600 hours and ending at 0600 hours.
- Firefighting-EMT positions are 207K exempt for purposes of Federal Wage-Hour Laws (meaning that overtime pay is eligible for hours worked in excess of 212 hours in a 28-day work period).
- Employees are scheduled on a three-platoon system and must adhere to their scheduled shifts.
- Health, dental, and vision insurance is provided to the employee at no premium cost, spouses and dependents require additional premium payments.
Pension Plan
- Mandatory enrollment in a pension plan is a condition of employment.
- Employer contributions and pension amounts are subject to change with notice to the employee.
Paid Time Off (PTO)
- Employees are given 5 (48 hour) tours (240 hours) of PTO per year, awarded on January 1st.
- Newly hired employees may receive prorated PTO hours if joining before July 1st.
- New employees hired after July 1st will not receive PTO.
- PTO cannot be used in the first 6 months of employment.
PTO Reserve
- Employees are allowed to allocate up to 96 PTO hours to be used for unforeseen circumstances.
- PTO reserve hours are not in addition to PTO awards.
- Employees must complete an online form to elect the PTO reserve.
- Employees are permitted to add to the PTO reserve bank from the current year until November 1st.
- The PTO reserve bank will not exceed 96 hours.
- Approval of requested use of PTO reserve is dependent on reason, scheduling and department needs and must be approved by the employee's District Chief.
Sick Leave
- Sick leave is granted for personal illness or injury, or illness or injury of an employee's dependent.
- Employees will be awarded sick leave at the rate of 144 hours on January 1st.
- New employees' sick leave will be prorated on the employee's first day of employment.
- Sick leave may be accrued up to a maximum of 720 hours.
- Upon separation and/or retirement the employee shall be compensated for half of unused sick leave up to a maximum of 360 hours, providing notice and exit procedures have been followed.
- Involuntary terminations will not receive a payout.
- Employees calling out sick for more than 48 hours shall provide a physician's note.
- Employees calling out sick the tour immediately prior to, or immediately after scheduled PTO must provide a physician's note.
- Failure to present a required physician's note will result in no pay.
- Sick Payout: Employees with an end-of-year balance of 720 sick hours, the maximum accrual allowed, will receive a payout of 72 additional hours on the payday no later than January 20th and based on the employee's straight-time rate of pay.
Shift Trading
- Shift trades are allowed for employees who cannot take PTO.
- All shift trades must be approved by the District Chiefs of both affected shifts and can be rescinded at any time if a reasonable explanation is given.
- Shift trades must be repaid in the same calendar year.
- Shift trades shall be tracked on the master PTO calendar and documented in scheduling software.
- If trading becomes excessive or disruptive, shift trades will no longer be allowed.
- Once a shift trade is approved the respective shift belongs to the individuals who agreed to the trade.
- The individual assumes responsibility in ensuring that they show up for the shift or the shift is covered if they become unavailable to work the trade, just like any regularly scheduled shift.
- Employees who trade shifts and call out sick are to use their PTO hours for the traded shift they agreed to work.
- Personnel will be permitted to trade outside of their respective rank as long as minimum staffing levels are met.
- Employees wishing to trade must ensure the maximum working hour rule is adhered to.
Shift Substitution
- Substitutions must be “made freely and without coercion, direct or implied" by the Spring Fire Department:
- Voluntary substitutions will be ignored by the Spring Fire Department for purposes of calculating hours that were worked.
- All substitutions must be approved by the District Chiefs of both affected shifts and can be rescinded at any time if a reasonable explanation is given.
- All substitutions shall be tracked on the master PTO calendar and documented in scheduling software.
- If the substitutions become disruptive, they will no longer be allowed.
- Once the substitution is approved the respective shift belongs to the individual who agreed to the substitution.
- The individual assumes responsibility in ensuring that they show up for the shift or the shift is covered if they become unavailable to work the substitution, just like any regularly scheduled shift.
- Employees who substitute and call out sick are to use their PTO hours for the traded shift they agreed to work.
- Personnel will be permitted to substitute outside of their respective rank as long as minimum staffing levels are met.
- Employees wishing to substitute must ensure the maximum working hour rule is adhered to.
- Shift substitutions are restricted to one (1) tour of duty per month.
Unpaid Shifts
- Unpaid shift requests must be made through the chain of command to the Fire Chief.
- The Fire Chief or designee will approve based on staffing needs, employees' available benefit time, and previous requests.
Additional Shift Work Call-Off
- Employees who call off 3 or more additional shifts within a 12 month period will be subject to suspension from signing up for additional shift work for a period of three (3) months.
- The member's District Chief will contact the Deputy Chief of Operations notifying them the employee has been suspended from working additional shifts.
- The Deputy Chief of Operations will ensure documentation accompanies the suspension.
Cadet Overtime
- Cadet Firefighters are allowed to begin working overtime after the completion of 1 month of employment, and with approval from their Captain.
- The ability to work overtime can be revoked at any time the Captain or District Chief feels it causes the employee to be affected from completing tasks or assignments on their regularly scheduled shift.
- Overtime is a privilege, and the Cadet Firefighter must understand their phase training and testing is the priority.
Secondary Employment
- During the term of employment, Spring Fire Department will be the employee's primary employment.
- Employees are limited to secondary employment that does not interfere with their job performance or schedule.
- If secondary employment interferes with the employee's duties. the employee must relinquish their secondary employment or be terminated by the SFD.
Shift Assignments
- Part-time employee availability must be turned in by 1700 hours on the 10th of the preceding month.
- A minimum of 8 shifts per month must be turned in.
- No amount of shifts is guaranteed to any employee.
- If the employee cannot commit to the 8-shift requirement, they must notify the Deputy Chief of Operations or designee prior to the 10th of the preceding month.
- If the employee elects to pick up open shifts, they may select the open shift on the schedule program.
- Once the shift is assigned to the employee, it is the responsibility of the employee to work the shift.
Call-Off
- Part-time employees who call off 3 or more shifts within a 12 month period will be subject to suspension from signing up for additional shifts for a period of three (3) months.
- The member's District Chief will contact the Deputy Chief of Operations notifying the employee has been suspended from working additional shifts.
- The Deputy Chief of Operations will ensure documentation accompanies the suspension.
References & Related Policies
- The policy references the following:
- FLSA
- DOL 29 CFR § 553.31
- OSHA
- NFPA
- Applicable State or Federal Statutes
- CPSE PI
- ISO
- TFCA
- SFD.047
- SFD 049
Contact Office
- The appropriate contact office for questions or comments on this SOG is:
- Company Officer
- District Chief
- Deputy Chief of Operations
- Assistant Chief
- Fire Chief
- Assistant Chief
- Deputy Chief of Operations
- District Chief
- Company Officer
List of Changes
- Revision 8 of the policy was applied in 2023.
- The following changes were implemented:
- Applied a new 2023 guideline template
- Updated shift substitution and PTO buyback sections.
- Approved by Davenpor on 7/10/2023
Errors
- To submit an error or inconsistency, use the provided QR code.
- This policy is for internal use only and does not enlarge a member's legal duty or civil liability in any way.
- This policy should not be construed as creating a duty to act or a higher duty of care, with respect to third-party civil claims against members or the department.
- A violation of this policy, if proven, can only form the basis of a complaint by this department for non-judicial administrative action in accordance with the laws governing member discipline.
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Test your knowledge on payroll issues, paid holidays, and employment regulations outlined for full-time employees. This quiz covers critical aspects such as timecard submissions, holiday pay rates, and standard work hours for various positions.
