Woodlands Fire Department Operational Guidelines A-01 Overtime PDF

The Woodlands Fire Department Operational Guidelines A-01 – OVERTIME 1.0 PURPOSE 1.1 The purpose of this guideline is to establish a uniform method for maintaining minimum staffing and to stipulate a procedural guideline for filling overtime vacancies created by employee absence. 2.0 SCOPE 2.1 This...

The Woodlands Fire Department Operational Guidelines A-01 – OVERTIME 1.0 PURPOSE 1.1 The purpose of this guideline is to establish a uniform method for maintaining minimum staffing and to stipulate a procedural guideline for filling overtime vacancies created by employee absence. 2.0 SCOPE 2.1 This guideline shall apply to all assigned shift personnel. 3.0 DEFINITIONS 3.1 Shift – One 24-hour period of duty 3.2 Tour – Two consecutive 24-hour shifts 3.3 Call Back List – A master list of all shift personnel available to work voluntary overtime 3.4 Daily Mandatory Iteration (DaMIt Day) - A pre-established shift that an employee is assigned to cover unfilled vacancies in order to maintain minimum staffing. 4.0 GUIDELINE 4.1 The Woodlands Fire Department shall fill overtime vacancies on a rank for rank basis when available. 4.2 When an overtime vacancy is noted for the following shift(s), the on-duty District 1 Battalion Chief shall inform the employee who has no scheduled relief, who shall be given the option of accepting the overtime shift. Exceptions: If an employee is in a ride-up capacity, he/she may not be given the option of accepting the overtime. If an employee is in a ride-up capacity, and no other employees are on duty of the rank that the overtime is for, the Call Back List shall be utilized as outlined in 4.3. Only after the list is exhausted will he/she be given the option of accepting the overtime as described in this section. An employee may not be asked to work a shift if working the shift will cause the employee to work more than 72 consecutive hours without approval from the Assistant Chief of Operations. 4.3 If the employee who has no scheduled relief does not wish to work the entire overtime shift (24 hours unless otherwise specified), he/she will notify the District 1 Battalion Chief who will initiate a callback using the department’s crew management system. 4.4 Employees who are scheduled off on vacation/holiday during the vacancy are not eligible to accept the shift. Employees who are scheduled off due to trade time are eligible to accept the shift provided that doing so would not create a situation where the employee would work more than 72 consecutive hours. Time may be entered on a different day in the time management system to accommodate entry of such hours. Absolutely no one will work over 72 continuous hours unless authorized by the Assistant Chief of Operations. Page 1 of 5 Issued 02/04/2005 Revised 03/28/2023 Reviewed 03/28/2023 The Woodlands Fire Department Operational Guidelines A-01 – OVERTIME 4.5 If an employee with no scheduled relief is ineligible to accept the overtime shift, responsibility for working the shift will fall upon the next employee of the rank and riding position that the vacancy is for based on the following rotation: E101 → TK101 → E102 → HM102 → E103 → TK104 → E105 → TK105 → E106 → R101 → E107 → TK108 → [repeat] Or in the case of a Battalion Chief Vacancy: BC101 → BC102 → [repeat] (i.e., if the employee driving E103 is ineligible for D/O overtime, the D/O driving TK104 will be responsible for the shift. If the employee driving TK104 is not a D/O, then responsibility will shift to E105, and so on. If no one of the rank of the vacancy is riding in that capacity i.e, all D/O’s are off or riding up, then responsibility would move up to a employee who holds the rank of the vacancy beginning with the unit that the vacancy is for and moving through the rotation above) 4.6 4.7 4.8 4.9 4.10 If an auxiliary apparatus is staffed (e.g. EVAC, Squad, R106), the riding positions of that apparatus will fall in the above rotation, after the frontline apparatus, at the firehouse in which it is operating. In the case of the Firefighter rank, responsibility will fall from the employee in the FF1 position in the crew management system, to FF2, then move onto the next apparatus in the rotation. If the Call Back List for that rank is exhausted and no one accepts the overtime, the overtime shift will be offered to eligible employees of other ranks in which an available riding position for that rank exists. This will be done utilizing the crew management notification function and filled on a first-come basis. Chief Officers will not be assigned to Company Officer, D/O, or Firefighter roles; Company Officers will not be assigned to D/O or Firefighter roles; D/O’s will not be assigned to Firefighter roles. The Call Back List should be utilized for each occurrence of an overtime vacancy (If the List is exhausted for one vacancy and another vacancy occurs, the List should be used again for the new vacancy). If an employee has been held responsible for a vacancy and has filled that vacancy as outlined in this guideline, then responsibility for any additional vacancies for which the same employee would be held should be transferred. In this transfer, responsibility should fall to the next employee of the same rank and position (if available), following the rotation outlined in 4.5 - 4.7. If there are no other on-duty personnel of the same rank and position, then the employee will be held responsible again (“double jeopardy”). Page 2 of 5 Issued 02/04/2005 Revised 03/28/2023 Reviewed 03/28/2023 The Woodlands Fire Department Operational Guidelines A-01 – OVERTIME 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 Employees utilizing the “Auto-Accept” feature for accepting overtime are obligated to work any period that is accepted on that employee’s behalf. Employees may not cancel an auto-enabled Callback. The District 1 Battalion Chief shall put the name of the employee accepting the overtime in the Battalion Chief Overtime Call Book when the shift is accepted. An employee that accepts an overtime shift or partial overtime shift is committed to work the entire shift, or partial shift, with no expectation of being released or covered to attend a prior commitment, appointment, or class. Overtime accrual will begin only when the employee has arrived at the assigned firehouse and is prepared for duty. Should no employee voluntarily accept the overtime shift after being offered to all eligible employees of all ranks, the DaMIt Day Calendar will be utilized as outlined in this section: a) The employee in the first position of the DaMIt Day will be activated. The employee in the second position would then be next to be activated in the event of another vacancy that cannot be filled on a voluntary basis. b) If the employee to be activated holds a rank in which there is no available riding position, in accordance with 4.8, the next eligible employee will be activated, and the former employee will maintain position as next to be activated. c) It will be the employee’s responsibility to maintain availability for contact from the District 1 Battalion Chief beginning 0700 the day prior to their assigned DaMIt Day and until 0730 the morning of their assigned DaMIt Day. If there is no contact from the District 1 Battalion Chief by 0730, the employee is considered released from their responsibility of “waiting to be engaged.” The employee is not required to contact the District 1 Battalion Chief to inquire their status. In the event of a late vacancy that is in the process of being filled, the District 1 Battalion Chief shall contact the next-to-be-activated employee, prior to 0730, to inform them of the potential for being activated. This will be considered “contact by 0730” and the employee will still be responsible for that vacancy if it goes unfilled. d) Failure to respond to contact from the District 1 Battalion Chief will result in progressive disciplinary action. Employees should be expecting a notification and be responsive within 10 minutes. e) The District 1 Battalion Chief will attempt contact in the following order: Crew Management Callback Function Telephone Other pre-arranged methods f) Employees who are activated must report to the assigned firehouse within 4 hours from contact. Page 3 of 5 Issued 02/04/2005 Revised 03/28/2023 Reviewed 03/28/2023 The Woodlands Fire Department Operational Guidelines A-01 – OVERTIME 4.16 4.17 4.18 5.0 g) DaMIt Days shall be viewed as on-duty days regarding overtime eligibility, trades, and all departmental policies until released from waiting to be engaged. h) Employees will be excused from a conflicting DaMIt Day obligation only if they are on department initiated required business/training or are otherwise ineligible or unable to work due to situations including but not limited to a Worker’s Comp Injury/Illness, Short Term Disability/Long Term Disability leave, Family Medical Leave Act leave, Texas A&M Task Force Deployment. i) Should the DaMIt Day List be exhausted, the employee without relief may be held for an additional 24 hours. j) Employees will be permitted to trade their DaMIt Day and/or position on the DaMIt Day Calendar in accordance with A-10 Trade – Offtime Procedures. k) Employees requesting to attend training or other department related activity or business that conflicts with their DaMIt Day obligation will be responsible for notifying their chain of command of any situation that interferes with their assigned DaMIt Day and securing a trade to cover the conflicted DaMIt Day obligation. Each day, after 0730, the employees on the DDay List for that day shall be deleted from that list in the Crew Management System in order to make them eligible for mid-shift vacancies. If a mid-shift vacancy becomes available, the District 1 Battalion Chief will initiate a callback utilizing the crew management notification function for the rank in which the vacancy exists. If the Call Back List for that rank is exhausted and no one accepts the overtime, the overtime shift will be offered to eligible employees of other ranks in which an available riding position for that rank exists. Should situations arise not covered in this guideline, the District 1 Battalion Chief, or Acting District 1 Battalion Chief, has the authority to mitigate the situation as necessary to carry out the department mission. CALL BACK LIST / DAMIT DAY CALENDAR DEVELOPMENT 5.1 The Call Back List and DaMIt Day Calendar will be located online using the department’s crew management system, and shall be kept in an accurate and up-todate status by the on-duty District 1 Battalion Chief. 5.2 Call Back List a) A master list of all shift personnel available to work overtime will be kept and monitored by the District 1 Battalion Chief. b) The list will be separated according to rank, with names listed alphabetically by last name. 5.3 DaMIt Day Calendar a) All employees will be grouped by shift and rank and alphabetized by last name. Page 4 of 5 Issued 02/04/2005 Revised 03/28/2023 Reviewed 03/28/2023 The Woodlands Fire Department Operational Guidelines A-01 – OVERTIME b) “Groups” of 4 employees will be built by taking names in alphabetical order and in the rotation of D/O, FF, LT, FF, FF, repeat. c) Groups will be placed on the calendar, in the order they were built, according to the Daily Mandatory Iteration (DaMIt) in which they’re eligible. Groups will be placed on two consecutive DaMIt Days. d) Probationary Firefighters in Phases I and II will be considered eligible for DaMIt Days in accordance with OG A-02 section 5.9. e) “Eligible DaMIt Days” will be that shift’s second and third off-duty days. (i.e. A shift is eligible to be assigned on B-shift’s second shift and C-shift’s first shift.) f) Employees will alternate positions within their group after each two-shift occurrence on the calendar. (i.e. After two consecutive 24hr shifts, First position would move to Fourth position, Second to First, Third to Second, and so on, at the next occurrence – regardless of whether a employee was activated.) (Example shows placement of Groups on the calendar. RED denotes the first rotation of building a “group” - GREEN denotes the beginning of the second rotation. The first group would be DO 1, FF 1, LT 1, FF 2. The second group would be FF 3, DO 2, FF 4, LT 2) Page 5 of 5 Issued 02/04/2005 Revised 03/28/2023 Reviewed 03/28/2023