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SOP-26 Staffing of Unfilled Mandatory Overtime updated 12-18Police Services Division SOP-26 Issued: 12/10/2020 Revised: 12/18/2022 SUBJECT: Staffing of Unfilled Mandatory Overtime PURPOSE: To establish a standard procedure for mandating officers to work unfilled shifts and designated special assignment positions on overtime, in order to meet minimum staffing levels when those shifts are not filled voluntarily. This procedure will apply to shifts (vacancies) of more than five (5) hours in the patrol division, and shifts of eight (8) hours or more in the fire division. Shifts that are five (5) hours or less in the patrol division or less than eight (8) hours in the fire division will be filled as needed at the discretion of the Sergeants or supervisors. The preference for filling patrol shifts of five (5) hours or less is to use shift extensions. If shift extensions are not practical then off-duty personnel may be ordered in as needed. The goal of this policy is to consistently assign mandatory overtime shifts/assignments when the need arises. It is difficult to account for all possible scenarios and the availability of all eligible personnel at a given time. The Mandated Overtime Picker, which is part of Schedule Express, will be the starting point. Its initial order was entered from the former mandated overtime picker and will change as personnel are assigned. It will not be reset over time; only new employees will be added at the top of the list and employees no longer employed will be deleted. This SOP is designed to give supervisors direction on how to fill schedule vacancies within our organization. It cannot anticipate every possible scenario and it may be necessary to deviate from it based on circumstances. The decision to do so shall be made by the Chief or designee. PROCEDURE I. Assigning Overtime A. Scheduled patrol overtime will be created when the absence is approved in Schedule Express, allowing officers to sign up for those shifts on a voluntary basis. B. Each month, the Admin supervisor shall look at the following month and fill any needed overtime. (The following is only applicable 1/15/2023 to 5/20/2023) Due to low staffing, personnel not assigned to Patrol are highly encouraged to assist the Patrol Division by voluntarily signing up for overtime. If there are a minimum of 20 OT shifts for Patrol for the month, the following will apply: the Admin Sergeant will post the OT and send an email alerting those not assigned to Patrol (minus Investigations) that the OT is available. Those personnel will have seven days to sign up for one OT shift. After the seven days, the OT will be available to all remaining personnel and those not assigned to Patrol to sign up for additional OT. If the OT is not filled and is going to be assigned mandatorily, those personnel not assigned to Patrol who did not sign up for one OT shift will be subject to subsection (C). C. (The following is only applicable 1/15/2023 to 5/20/2023) Those personnel not assigned to Patrol (minus Investigations) who did not sign up for a Patrol OT shift will be mandated prior to utilizing the mandatory list. If this applies to multiple people in a month, shifts will be assigned to those people using their previous positions in the mandatory assignment list. Personnel assigned shifts under this rule will be given credit for the mandatory assignment and will go to the bottom of the mandatory list. D. Shifts of more than five (5) hours should be mandated more than two weeks prior to the shift if the vacancy is known. July 4th will not be considered as a mandatory shift due to the agency declaring it an all-hands day. E. Shifts of five (5) hours or less left unfilled should be assigned as shift extensions at least one week prior to the shift if the vacancy is known. If a shift is unable to be filled by an extension, it will be filled by an employee on their days off and it will count as a mandatory shift. (The following is only applicable 1/15/2023 to 5/20/2023) Planned overtime shifts in patrol will not be filled by shift extensions; they will be filled by personnel off duty on their regular days off. F. Notification in Schedule Express will be sufficient for shifts more than seven (7) days in advance. G. Those who are ineligible to be assigned include: 1. IOD/Light Duty 2. Attending Police/Fire Academy 3. Preapproved Vacation/Comp/Paid Holiday/Shift Trade preceding or following days off 4. Leave of Absence H. Those employees assigned a shift with at least two (2) weeks’ notice (14 days) will have no grounds to contest the order. They may, on a voluntary basis, have their shift covered by another eligible employee. If for any reason the other employee is no longer able to cover the shift, it falls back onto the original employee to cover or get covered. If another employee volunteers to work the shift, no employee will receive credit for the mandate. I. Those employees assigned a shift with less than two (2) weeks’ notice (14 days), but more than 24 hours’ notice, may appeal to the mandating supervisor and upon confirmation that there would occur a financial loss (airline reservations, tickets to an event, etc.), may not be assigned the overtime shift. J. In general, regarding hardships and childcare, those mandated in with less than 24 hours' notice may appeal to the mandating supervisor based on their circumstances. More than 24 hours' notice is reasonable to address most incidents, including childcare, and may not be dismissed as a hardship. K. No officer will be mandatorily assigned an overtime shift that begins or ends within eight (8) hours of a scheduled patrol shift, nor mandatorily assigned overtime on consecutive days. L. In instances when a significant number of shifts would be mandated for a position, the scheduling supervisor may elect to open the shifts up for voluntary mandates. This will be done by emailing out the shifts to the eligible employees. The eligible employees could reply with a shift they would prefer to be mandated for from the list. Shifts will be filled chronologically. If multiple employees volunteer for the same mandated shift, the shift will be mandated to the employee higher on the mandate list. If no employee volunteers, the normal mandate practices will apply. Employees should be given a reasonable time to respond to the email to give as many employees as possible the opportunity to respond, with the understanding that the situation will dictate the amount of time. M. Other methods of filling overtime positions may occur based on the needs of the agency. II. Patrol Sergeant Coverage: Due to the limited number of available employees to cover Sergeant vacancies, the following adjustments to the above guidelines apply to Sergeant shifts only. A. For vacancies of five (5) hours or less, overtime will be posted for the actual vacancy. If an employee who is off that day would like to work the shift as an eight (8) hour shift, they may sign up for the overtime and then have the Admin Sergeant change it to an eight (8) hour shift. In general, the eight (8) hour shift will be 1600-2400 for a 1700-2100 vacancy and 2300-0700 for a 0200-0700 vacancy. B. (The following is only applicable 1/15/2023 to 5/20/2023) Due to low staffing, personnel not assigned to Patrol are highly encouraged to assist the Patrol Division by voluntarily signing up for overtime. If there are a minimum of 5 Sergeant OT shifts for Patrol for the month the following will apply: The Admin Sergeant will post the OT and send an email alerting those assigned to Fire that the OT is available. Those personnel will have seven days to sign up for one OT shift. After the seven days, the OT will be available to all remaining personnel and those assigned to Fire to sign up for additional OT. If the OT is not filled and is going to be assigned mandatorily, those personnel assigned to Fire who did not sign up for one OT shift will be subject to subsection (C). C. (The following is only applicable 1/15/2023 to 5/20/2023) Those personnel assigned to Fire who did not sign up for a Patrol OT shift will be mandated prior to utilizing the mandatory list. If this applies to multiple people in a month, shifts will be assigned to those people using their previous positions in the mandatory assignment list. Personnel assigned shift under this rule will be given credit for the mandatory assignment and will go to the bottom of the mandatory list. D. If no employee signs up for the vacancy of five (5) hours or less it will be filled using shift extensions. (Not applicable 1/15/2023 to 5/20/2023 for Team 2) E. Once an employee has been assigned four (4) shift extensions in a month, any remaining planned vacancies of five (5) hours or less that would be assigned to them as shift extensions will be posted as eight (8) hour shifts. Additionally, if the five (5) hour or less vacancy cannot be filled using shift extension due to other logistical issues, the shift will be posted as an eight (8) hour shift. Any shifts that are posted in accordance with this section will be filled from the mandatory list if they are not filled voluntarily. If a shift cannot be filled by an available Sergeant, more than four (4) shift extensions in a month may occur based on the needs of the agency. (Not applicable 1/15/2023 to 5/20/2023 for Team 2) F. Sergeant vacancies of more than five (5) hours will be posted to match the vacancy and will be filled from the mandatory list if no employee volunteers for the shift. III. Supervisor Responsibility A. When mandating overtime in Schedule Express for shifts of five (5) hours or less, the Voluntary OT checkbox must be checked. It is best to click the “show schedule sorted by mandate list” to confirm someone’s availability to be assigned the shift unless section I.D above applies. (Not applicable 1/15/2023 to 5/20/2023)