Pitman Schedule

[HardBall]

My department is considering moving to the Pitman Schedule (12 hour days, 3 on/2 off/2 on, 3 off, every other weekend off).

In checking the previous forums it seems all the officers love the schedule.

My question is to officers whose departments have transitioned from an 8 hour a day schedule to the 12 hour days.

- How did your department compensate you for working the extra hours?

- What happened to your vacation days? Did they become vacation hours?

- What about sick days? Do they become 'sick hours'?

- What about sick days that have been accumulated under the 8 hour schedule. Do they remain days or do they become hours?

If you have been through the transition I'm sure you know more about this than me. Please advise of any pitfalls that we (as a union) should be aware of. Also please advise of any problems your department may have had so we can address them during this early negotiation stage.

Thank you in advance...

[Monkeybomb]

12 hour shifts are rough with overtime. Do you plan on doing 2 or 3 shifts per day. 3 will give you some overlap and reduce OT. The agency I worked for jad the schedule before i was ever hired. I would say, vacation and sick should be converted to hours, thats only fair. If you are a very small agency it works out pretty well. I can't say I would recomend it for a sizeable agency though.

[CUFFS137]

I worked the 12 hours schedule (never transitioned though). We were paid the 84 hours bi-weekly at a straight time rate. Everything broke down to hours, but I have no idea if the sick, and vacation hours were increased when the department went to 12's.
I can say that being on a steady 12 hr. shift (7p-7a) was awsome. I was very used to the duration, and became completely comforatble with my steady hours. Make this a rotating shift of any kind, and I think it may suck...Steady hours is the key. Having off every other 3 day weekend is priceless as well.
Is this schedule named after Pitman NJ (Gloucester Co.)? If so I never heard that.

[fordman318]

We are a small town PD with four shifts each having 1 Lt. 1 Sgt. and 5 officers if fully stocked (but who is). We have two shifts per day. 0645-1845 and 1845-0645. Our vacation, sick, holiday, and comp time are all given in hours. We still get ten days off a year but just 120 hours. We all get one 8 hour day during each two week period to avoid overtime. Usually on nights the early day turns to four hours of overtime. We change from days to nights every 28 days so nothing gets mundane.