The normal work week for all full-time permanent employees shall be forty (40) hours. The work week shall commence at 0:00 hours on Sunday and end at 23:59 hours on Saturday. The normal work day shall be eight (8) consecutive hours, or ten (10) consecutive hours for those scheduled to work four (4) days a week. Routine work normally performed by Wildlife Officers within work day may include but not be limited to: enforcement, public relations, phone calls, etc.

It is understood that the Employer reserves the right to limit the number of persons to be scheduled off work at any one time. Work schedules will be posted for a work period of four (4) weeks or greater and shall be posted for a minimum of four (4) weeks in advance. Work schedules shall not be established solely to avoid overtime but for efficient operations. After the schedule has been posted it will remain in effect for the duration of the posted period and may be changed only with four (4) weeks notice of a date or in emergency situations or employer-required training provided by non-departmental personnel. Less than full time (LTFT) employee schedules may be modified with two (2) weeks notice to facilitate time off for other officers and/or provide coverage for the advanced scheduled absence of an officer and/or in the case of an emergency. LTFT employees scheduled hours cannot exceed forty (40) hours in any week. For the purposes of this Article, LTFT means part-time permanent in the Departments of Mental Health and Mental Retardation/Developmental Disabilities. For purposes of administration of this Article, training opportunities and employee leave notices shall not in themselves constitute emergencies. Records regarding work schedules shall be retained for twelve (12) months in each facility. Within a classification, requests for days off will be determined by classification seniority. Shift assignments will be established by classification seniority within that classification, except that all bargaining unit members classified as Police Officer 1 and 2 shall use bargaining unit seniority within the respective agency. Employees at work facilities without work schedules shall be notified of special assignments two (2) weeks in advance whenever possible except for unforeseen or mitigating circumstances including emergency situations. The Employer will attempt to schedule employees so as to have two (2) consecutive days off. The parties understand that employee cooperation will enhance the implementation of this section. The FOP/OLC staff representative and management may agree to waive or modify any part of this Article.

The work schedule shall be determined by management. Work schedules will consist of periods of work with fixed starting and ending dates or times whichever is applicable excluding overtime work. No employee will normally work split-shifts except in the case of an emergency.

Employees shall normally be granted an unpaid meal period of not less than thirty (30) minutes and not more than sixty (60) minutes near the midpoint of each shift. Such meal periods shall be scheduled at the agency's discretion. Employees who are required by the agency to remain in an on-duty status with no scheduled meal period shall receive compensation for time worked at their straight time regular rate except when the employee is in an overtime status at which time the employee will be compensated at their overtime rate. This break may be waived by the employee, with mutual agreement of the Employer.

A paid rest period of not more than fifteen (15) minutes shall be granted to each employee for every four (4) hours of regularly scheduled work performed except during an unusual situation or emergency created beyond the control of the Employer. Such rest periods shall be a time detached from lunch periods, the beginning and end of shifts, and although scheduled at the discretion of the Employer, shall be taken near the midpoint of each half-shift when practicable. Additional paid rest periods of fifteen (15) minutes each for every four (4) hours of overtime worked shall be granted to employees.

1. Report-back occurs when a member of the bargaining unit is called to return to work to do unscheduled, unforeseen or emergency work after the member has left work upon the completion of the regular day's work, but before he/she is scheduled to return to work.

2. When a member reports back, he/she shall be paid a minimum of four (4) hours at his/her regular straight time rate of pay; or actual hours worked at the overtime rate, if applicable (i.e. if actual hours worked exceeds 2.67 hours), whichever is greater. Pay shall include shift differential, if ordinarily paid.

3. Regularly scheduled shift hours following report backs are to be paid at straight time.

Because of the unique nature of the duties and emergency response obligations of members of this unit, management reserves the right to assign employees to work overtime as needed.

1. Any member who is in active pay status more than forty (40) hours in one week shall be paid one and one-half (1.5) times his/her regular rate of pay plus shift differential if ordinarily paid for all time over forty (40) hours in active pay status. All overtime must be authorized by an administrative authority. Schedules will not be changed solely to avoid the payment of overtime.

2. The employee may elect to take compensatory time off in lieu of cash overtime payment for hours in an active pay status more than forty (40) hours in any calendar week. Such compensatory time shall be granted on a time and one-half (1.5) basis. A bargaining unit member shall be paid for unused compensatory time only upon termination of employment and under the terms of paragraph 8, hereunder. (The Employer shall not substitute compensatory time in lieu of cash payment should the maximum accrual for compensatory time allowed by the Fair Labor Standards Act as amended be reached.)

3. The employee may choose to accrue compensatory time to a maximum of 480 hours (i.e., 320 hours at time and one-half).

4. When the maximum hours of compensatory time accrual is rendered, payment for overtime work must be made in cash.

5. Upon termination of employment, an employee shall be paid for unused compensatory time at the rate which is the higher of:

a. the final regular rate of pay received by the employee or

b. the average regular rate of pay received by the employee during the last three (3) years of employment.

6. Compensatory time may not be used for the purpose of pyramiding overtime.

7. For purposes of this Article, active pay status is defined as the conditions under which an employee is eligible to receive pay, and includes, but is not limited to, vacation leave, personal leave, bereavement leave and administrative leave. Sick leave or any leave used in lieu of sick leave shall not be considered as active pay status for purposes of this Article.  Holidays observed on a scheduled work day will be considered as active pay in the computation of hours for overtime purposes.

8. Compensatory time off shall be granted at the discretion of the Employer in accordance with the operational requirements of the facility. If such use is denied, the compensatory time requested shall be paid to the employee, at his/her option, to a maximum of eighty (80) hours in any pay period. Within the Department of Natural Resources, denials of compensatory time requests based on staffing demands, during peak season requirements, may constitute undue disruption in the affected work location. Such peak times are incorporated in Appendix F. Compensatory time is not available for use until it appears on the employee’s earnings statement.

9. Requests for compensatory time off may be submitted within twenty-four (24) hours in advance of the anticipated time off. Such request shall be given every reasonable consideration. All requests must be followed up by a request in writing submitted at a reasonable time after the initial request.

Unscheduled overtime will be offered to employees on duty starting with the most senior qualified employee, except when the nature of the enforcement duties being performed need to be completed by the incumbent. If the overtime assignment is not filled by the above, it will be offered to the most senior qualified employee available who is assigned to that work location. If the overtime assignment cannot be filled by either of the above, the least senior qualified employee on duty will be required to work. If the least senior employee is unavailable, then the next least senior employee(s) shall be required to perform the overtime assignment(s). Scheduled events and overtime to be worked at other facilities will follow the selection procedure outlined above with seniority being determined in the defined area (i.e., facility, park, region, state) from which the member is to be selected. In departments or divisions in which services and/or facilities are regionalized or in which regionalization is proposed or being implemented, regionalization shall be a viable topic for labor/management committees. Committees may discuss and make recommendations to the appropriate parties regarding scheduling and overtime in the regions. Wildlife Officers’ scheduling of overtime will be governed by the directive currently in effect, except that changes may be made to such directive as deemed necessary by the Chief. If such changes affect the terms and conditions of employment, they will be negotiated in good faith with the FOP/OLC.  Good faith attempts will be made to equalize scheduled overtime at any one facility. Scheduled overtime is defined as any overtime of which the Employer has forty-eight (48) hours advance notice.

Employees shall be at their work sites, report-in location or headquarters location by their shift starting time. A Park Officer's report-in location shall be one assigned park. Any employee who must begin work at some location other than his/her actual work location or headquarter county or any Park Officer who must begin work at some other location other than his/her assigned park shall be compensated according to current Department/Agency practices. Within the Department of Natural Resources Division of Watercraft, remote office locations may be authorized by Watercraft management. The Division reserves the right to designate the remote office location and will provide the equipment needed to perform authorized duties from this location. Employees in the Department of Commerce, classified as Liquor Compliance Officers, will have their residence as a starting work site. The report-in location of employees assigned to the Enforcement Unit at the Department of Public Safety, shall be twenty (20) miles from their home or the location at which they join their partner whichever is less. Employees who are on authorized travel expenses, greater than forty-five (45) miles from their home, have the option to commute. Employees who wish to commute rather than claim travel expenses may request to commute by use of a Request for Waiver of Travel Expenses form. Employees making such requests shall waive their right to the twenty (20) miles payment provision described in the Article except for the following:

A. Payment on the first day to the assignment and payment on the last day on the return trip from the assignment;

B. Those employees who live less than forty-five (45) miles from their work assignment shall not be offered this waiver. The Employer shall not arbitrarily order an employee into per diem status whose work assignment is less than forty-five (45) miles from his/her home. All other employees of the Department shall continue the current report-in practices.

Whenever an off-duty employee is placed on a stand by basis by the Employer he/she will be paid one-half (1/2) of his/her regular rate of pay for all hours that he/she is actually on stand by. Stand-by status shall be distinguished from report-back status by the following: 1) Direct notice of the stand-by requirement; 2) Employee’s off-duty activities are specifically restricted by the Employer; 3) Employee is given a specific period of time during which he/she must respond to any summons from the Employer with the consequence of discipline for failure to respond/report. Once summoned to report, stand-by will continue until the employee reports. An employee required to carry a pager while on “on-call” is not in stand-by status unless specifically noted that he/she is to be on “stand-by” status.

At any time when the end of one (1) scheduled shift and the beginning of the next scheduled shift worked by a member are less than ten (10) hours apart, the member will receive one and one-half (1.5) times his/her hourly rate, including premium pay for the second shift worked except in emergency situations or employer-required training. A shift worked immediately following a report back will not be considered a double back for pay purposes under this Article. Similarly, a double-back cannot be created through the bargaining unit member’s selection of shift or the assignment of shift pursuant to Article/Section 22.02 for LTFT employees.

No supervisor shall intimidate or unduly influence an employee to waive his/her rights under this Article.