PAX Centurion - January / February 2014

Page 28 • PAX CENTURION • January/February 2014 617-989-BPPA (2772) Legal Notes: Bryan C. Decker, Esq. Sandulli Grace P.C., Counsel to Members of the Boston Police Patrolmen’s Association The comp time section of the Arbitration Award – What it means for you A s you know, the recent ArbitrationAward creates, for the first time, a formal “Compensatory Time” section of the contract. Prior to theAward, the department administered an ad hoc “WI/WO” program that varied in administration from district to district. The new “Compensatory Time” provision will ensure that officers will earn and use “comp time” in a uniform fashion, regard- less of assignment. This article will attempt to summarize the comp time section of the award, so that you know when, and how, you will be able to use comp time. How comp time is earned O fficers will continue to accrue comp time (the terms “work- ing in” and “working out” will no longer be used) in only limited circumstances. Unlike many departments, where an officer can earn comp time instead of money when working an overtime shift, comp time in the BPD can only be earned in situations where overtime is unavailable. The BPPA argued for a “traditional” comp time accrual system, but the Department would not agree, and theArbitrator did not award it. The most important thing to know about earning comp time is that comp time can only be earned voluntarily.You cannot be ordered to work outside of your shift in exchange for comp time, you must agree to the extra work. Any extra work that you are required to perform must be paid overtime. Comp time can be earned for the following: • “Officer Initiated Out of Turn Service” – this is the new name for a “self-swap.”An officer, with the approval of his Captain, may work a shift in order to get a scheduled shift off. The officer must work the shift before taking the exchange shift off. The of- ficer must designate the shift to be taken off at the time she or he requests to work. A full shift must be “earned” before a full shift can be taken off. • Clerks covering each other. This practice shall continue as always. • Training – Officers will continue to accrue compensatory days according toArticle IX, Section 3(F) • Overtime Service on a Vacation Day –As per Article IX, Section 4(D), an officer called in for overtime shall receive a compensatory day off in addition to overtime pay. • Department meetings – an officer may voluntarily attend a meeting if there is a special need for him/her to be at that meet- ing. An officer attending such a meeting will earn comp time on an hour for hour basis. • Award ceremonies, Funeral escorts/wakes, Gaelic Column, HonorGuard, Communitymeetings (not for CSOs).All of these assignments must bevoluntary. For these voluntary assignments, Officers will earn a 4 hour minimumof comp time, and hour for hour over 4 hours (unless the FLSA requires time and a half). If the department desires to have an officer work outside of his/her regular shift for any other purpose, the officer must receive overtime compensation for that work. How much comp time an officer may accumulate A s of January 2014, all comp time banks will be “paid down” to 160 hours, and no officer will be allowed to earn more than that many hours of comp time. The pay down will be at the officer’s current hourly rate (all pre-award hours were already multiplied by 1.5 to comply with the FLSA). As of January 2015, the maximum will be reduced to 80 hours (and anyone over that number will again paid down to that cap). How comp time is used T he most advantageous feature of theArbitrationAward is that it creates a uniform process for officers to use comp time. All officers, regardless of assignment or location, will be entitled to the same rules for using comp time once earned. TheAward also increases the number of officers who must be granted comp time requests. Requests to use comp time are governed by: • An officer requests to use previously earned comp time by filing a form 0047-BFS-1011. Requests must be made 96 hours in advance of the shift the officer wants to take off. • All comp time must be used in full tour increments (we were unsuccessful in getting smaller increments). The number of officers who must be granted a comp time request is dependent on the size of the district or unit involved and the time of year. In addition, different rules apply to whether an officer is requesting to use FLSA comp time or contractual comp time. FLSA comp time is comp time that is earned by an officer after that officer has actually worked over 171 hours in the current 28 day work period (prior to theAward, this was 40 hours in a 7 day period, but the Award grants the longer period). The department may only deny an officer the use of FLSA comp time if the use would “unduly disrupt” the operations of the department (this term is not defined, but is a high standard to meet. It could include a “full pop,” or similar “all hands on deck” situations). As such, the number of officers request- ing FLSA comp time will reduce the number of officers who will be granted contractual comp time requests. TheAward requires the Department to grant more comp time requests in larger units and districts. TheAward also guarantees that more officers may use comp time during the majority of the year (all year other than the “high season” – the 14 summer vacation weeks and the 2 weeks around Christmas). Finally, more requests must be granted on weekdays (any shift between 4 p.m. Sunday through 4 p.m. Friday). In units or districts with 25 or more officers assigned, on week- days 4 officers may use contractual compensatory time on a shift, on weekends the number is reduced to 3. During the high season, the weekday number is 3 and the weekend number is 2. In units or district with less than 25 officers, 2 officers may use contractual comp time on a shift, that number is reduced to 1 officer during the high season. See Comp Time on page 30