1. Governing Regulations
The procedure is governed by System Policy 31.03 Leaves of Absence, System Regulation 31.01.09 Overtime, System Regulation 31.03.01 Vacation, System Regulation 31.03.03 Leave of Absence with Pay, System Regulation 31.03.04 Leave of Absence without Pay, and Administrative Procedure 30.09 Overtime and Compensatory Time.
2. Reference Publications
These procedures are similar to the guidelines published by the National Wildfire Coordinating Group (NWCG) found in the Interagency Incident Business Management Handbook.
3. Definitions
Normal Activity – is defined as routine activities that occur in a typical 8 hour shift during normal business hours. Normal Activity may also include some fire response and/or other agency business outside of normal business hours however, these occurrences are infrequent.
Elevated Activity – is defined as frequent and consecutive extended work periods of emergency response outside of normal business hours (i.e., evenings and weekends). It may involve initial attack personnel, dispatchers, and support personnel.
Assignment – Any event or incident where a resource order was created and filled. The duration of an assignment can be anywhere from 1 to 14 days. Extensions may be requested per agency procedures to allow for additional consecutive days of work beyond 14 days.
Extension – A request for up to 7 additional days of service to an assignment beyond the normal 14 consecutive days.
Primary Supervisor – The employee’s supervisor for day-to-day duties in the employees designated headquarters. The primary supervisor is usually different from the employee’s immediate supervisor during assignment to an emergency response incident.
Immediate Supervisor – The acting supervisor assigned to an employee accepting an assignment to an emergency response incident and is responsible for day-to-day duties for the duration of the assignment. Immediate supervisors are typically based on qualifications or agency chain of command.
Resource Order – The form used to document a request, for personnel and equipment to respond to an incident. A resource order is used for both ordering and release of an employee or equipment on an incident.
4. General
Extended work periods increase employee fatigue and stress and can result in impaired job performance. An employee may be required to take a management directed day off as a leave of absence if, in the supervisor’s judgment, continued work periods would create a substantial risk to the employee and/or co-workers. The purpose of this procedure is to quantify when these conditions exist and define the responsibilities for enacting guidelines for a mandatory management directed day off for safety reasons.
5. Situations Involved in Management Directed Days Off
Management directed days off may become necessary when combinations of extended work periods occur. These management directed days off may result from in-state or out-of-state Federal or non-Federal incidents.
6. Guidelines
6.1 The employee’s primary supervisor is responsible for ensuring compliance with the management directed days off requirement.
6.2 The agency’s management directed day off requirements are based on the activity level:
- Normal Activity – During normal activity management directed days off are not required.
- Elevated Activity – During elevated activities, affected employees are subject to a 14/1 requirement. This means that an employee involved in emergency response activities, including initial attack, dispatch, and support personnel, will not be allowed to work more than 14 consecutive workdays without taking a day off, unless an extension is granted (see below).
- Determining Elevated Activity – A Region will be considered elevated if the majority of resources in that Region staff for fire response for two consecutive weekends.
The determination of elevated activity level for a Region will be made by the applicable Regional Operations Chief.
Once elevated activity criteria are met, the Regional Operations Chief in the affected area will provide email notification to all employees within the affected Region when the elevated activity begins which should be the Monday morning immediately after the second weekend worked.
- Returning to Normal Activity – The Regional Operations Chief in a Region where elevated status has been determined may declare a return to Normal Activity once conditions change and extended hours, including weekend duty is no longer required. The Regional Operations Chief will provide email notification to all personnel in the affected Region of the change in status.
- Leadership Notifications – Any determined or planned changes to a Region’s activity level should be communicated to the Area Operations Chief and Division Director for Field Operations.
6.3 Assignments – All employees receiving a resource order are subject to the 14/1 requirement. Consecutive workdays prior to the assignment and travel to/from the assignment should not be counted towards the 14-day assignment length.
When a resource is requested and the sending unit is in an elevated activity level, consecutive workdays prior to the assignment and travel to/from the assignment must be counted towards the 14-day assignment length. The sending unit supervisor will be responsible for reporting the number of days worked to the requesting unit.
6.4 Extensions – An extension of up to an additional 7 days may be permitted if fire activity or staffing needs requires an employee to exceed 14 consecutive workdays. An extension should be requested as soon as it is recognized that the employee will exceed the 14 consecutive workdays.
- Home Unit – When working in the home unit, the primary supervisor may request an extension of up to 7 additional days for a total not to exceed 21 consecutive days. Written concurrence must be obtained from the Regional Operations Chief or someone at a higher level in the chain of command. If the request is approved, the employee will be allowed to work up to 21 consecutive days and must take 2 consecutive days off prior to returning to work.
- Outside of Home Unit – When working outside the home unit, the Regional Operations Chief for the area in which an employee is assigned may request an extension of up to 7 additional days for a total not to exceed 21 consecutive days, exclusive of travel, unless sending unit is in elevated activity status. (See section 6.3 above for information on how travel to/from assignment and consecutive workdays prior to assignment are counted). Written concurrence must be obtained from the Regional Operations Chief of the employee’s home unit. If the request is approved, the employee will be allowed to work up to 21 consecutive days and must take 2 consecutive days off prior to returning to work.
6.5 If a management directed day off is a regular workday, the employee has the option to use compensatory time or vacation time for the management directed day off. If a management directed day off is not a regular workday, the employee is off duty as usual. To the extent possible, management directed days off will not be on regular workdays. The specific management directed days off will be at the discretion of the immediate supervisors.
6.6 An R&R day off related to a federal assignment is subject to Administrative Procedure 30.09 Overtime and Compensatory Time.
7. Exceptions
If operational reasons require an employee to exceed the guideline in section 6.5, written concurrence must be obtained from the Area Operations Chief, Regional Operations Chief, or someone at a higher level in the chain of command. This type of exception should be a rare occurrence based on a clear and present threat.