24 Hour Shifts

[iadybug423]

Hi again Everyone,

I see some of the shifts being 24 hours on and 48 hours off. What are part time hours? When you volunteer do you make your own hours or obide by certain hours? Is there rotation shifts like 3 months 11.p.m to 11 a.m. then change from 11:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m.?

-Terri

[ems36]

Here in Michigan i do not know of any service that does not pay 24 out of 24.

[bbbrammer]

There are many ways to get around paying a full shift. Where I work we do 24hr shifts, but we are only paid for the first 8hrs we are on. After that we are considered to be on-call. If we get a call during that on-call time we don't get paid any extra, just the pay for the first 8hrs. Which makes the pay approx. $60/shift EMT-B, $70/shift EMT-I, and $80/shift EMT-P. I'd be happy to get paid for 16hrs out of every 24 I worked. Paying bills would be easier.

[chicagoambo]

This is a topic that I haven't been able to get a lot of help on, so I thought I'd throw it out here for some advice. I work in a hospital based EMS system. We provide primary 911 ALS response for a pretty good sized city. We also have a BLS unit based at the volunteer fire station in a town about 8 miles away. That is our only rig that works 24 hour shifts. (24 on, 48 off) Herein lies the rub. The crews out there are only paid for 16 hours. The shift starts at 8a and runs until 10p. "Sleep time" is from 10p-6a, then shift time starts again from 6a-8a.

If you get a call during "Sleep time", you are on the clock for the duration of the call. If the call comes between 1a-3a, you get paid for the full 24 hour shift because it interrupts 5 hours of uninterrupted sleep time. How fair is this? Actually, how legal is this? Our feeling is that since you are not permitted to clock out and go home during "Sleep time", and are required to be available for calls, follow the rules and regulations, get into uniform, etc.... you should be paid for the full 24 hour shift.

Does anyone have any ideas as to whether that violates any laws? The Fire station is unmanned, and even though there is a shower, the only kitchen amenities are a refrigerator and microwave.

Does anyone have any thoughts on this? Some of us are trying to find out if we can file file a claim for back pay.

Thats why we are union!

[chicagoambo]

Its crazy you guys allow this,in 2006?Time to get the media to support your dept.,no one should have to be at work without compensation!

[KSEMT122]

What my department did to fix that situation was to lower the hourly rate for the tech. So we are paid for 24 hours instead of cutting us off at a certain time. And anything over 40 is OT. So my salary in Kansas as an EMT-D was a little over $27,000. Which in Kansas... Is not shabby at all. I just don't think I could work at a service that didn't pay me for the full 24 hours. Like everyone already said, it apparently is legal, although NOT popular.