# 24/48 shift



## rowdybear (Oct 4, 2011)

im new to ems field, just got basic in Aug. i started working for a private service in south louisiana and got placed on a 24/48 truck. its the only 24/48 truck in area and the FTO said they have a hard time filling spot cause no one likes the 24 thing, but i was excited to get it. have any of you worked that schedule? pros cons


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## fast65 (Oct 4, 2011)

That's the schedule we run, I personally love it, but then again we have stations so we can eat, sleep, and hang out there when we're not running calls.


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## DrParasite (Oct 4, 2011)

pros:

working there full time, you work only two days a week.

cons

if you are busy and running your *** off, those 24hours will suck.

Basicly, if its a slow station, and a slow truck, and you can sleep  in a station and have a lot of downtime, it's awesome.  however, if it's the opposite, the 24/48 will suck.


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## fast65 (Oct 4, 2011)

Oh yeah, I forgot about the pros and cons:

Pros:
-Only there 2-3 times a week
-That's kind of it actually...

Cons:
-You could be up for all 24 hours of that shift


Come to think of it, the pros and cons are pretty clear cut. However, if you do happen to be at a slow station it's rather nice, my partner and I played Call of Duty for a few hours the other day undisturbed. However, last shift we had no calls all day and were up all night, so it really just depends how busy your station is.


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## medicdan (Oct 4, 2011)

rowdybear said:


> im new to ems field, just got basic in Aug. i started working for a private service in south louisiana and got placed on a 24/48 truck. its the only 24/48 truck in area and the FTO said they have a hard time filling spot cause no one likes the 24 thing, but i was excited to get it. have any of you worked that schedule? pros cons



As others have said, the habitability of the shift all depends on call volume/call times, staffing (double medic v PB v double basic), station (beds, food, entertainment), dispatchers (and their vendettas) and your relationship with your partner...


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## abckidsmom (Oct 5, 2011)

I don't like the 24/48 because every single day off you either got off work that morning or have to be back tomorrow.  If you are busy at work and don't sleep it off through your first day off, you lose your first evening of relaxation/entertainment.  If you are busy and need to have a decent bedtime before your shift, you lose your second evening of relaxation/entertainment.

I like the w/o/w/o/w/oooo schedule.  There's a reason I saw the license plate LVMY4DA on a jeep wrangler with an IAFF sticker in the back window.


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## adamjh3 (Oct 5, 2011)

I'd take it over my last schedule which was w/o/w/o/w/o/o for three months. I'll echo what ABC said, even with those 2 days off it really felt like I never left work 

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## Trauma_Junkie (Oct 5, 2011)

In my area most services are 24/48. It's something I've become accustom to. The private companies either do 10 or 12 shifts. I agree with what everyone else has said about the pros and cons. Depends on the shift, district, call volume, etc...


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## Flight-LP (Oct 6, 2011)

I used to hate the 24/48 schedule. OT shifts were out of the question unless you wanted to work them back-to-back. Plus your time off seemed to be so minimal. I always felt like i'd get home and go right back.

The most common schedule i've worked the last few years is the 24/72 which is worlds better. My FD and air service works a 24 on, 24 off, 24 on, 5 days off schedule. I'm only PT at both, but would love to work that schedule................


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## Shishkabob (Oct 6, 2011)

abckidsmom said:


> I don't like the 24/48 because every single day off you either got off work that morning or have to be back tomorrow.  If you are busy at work and don't sleep it off through your first day off, you lose your first evening of relaxation/entertainment.  If you are busy and need to have a decent bedtime before your shift, you lose your second evening of relaxation/entertainment.



That's it for me there.

24/48s have the benefit that if you take a single day off, you actually get 5 days off.  But as stated, if you're doing your normal 24/48, your days off don't really feel like days off, as you're either recovering or preparing for work.  You can be up for 24 straight with no sleep (which is not safe).  A real social life tends to be a little more difficult.

As abc said, Kelly schedules would be awesome, as you have a built in 5 day vaction every so often without having to use your own PTO.





I've worked 12s, 16s, and 24s.  My favorite are the 12s because no matter how crappy the shift is, it's only for half a day, and you still get 3-4 days off a week.


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## socalmedic (Oct 6, 2011)

I hate the 24/48 schedule with a passion. as stated every day your off you are either going to work or coming home from work.

on the other hand I love the 48/96 schedule, every shift is followed by a 4 day vacation.

right now my company uses the O X O X O X X X X (O=ON X=OFF) which is nice, if I make one trade I get OOOXXXXXX, 6 days off baby and travel everywhere. you are new so there isnt much you can do, but in a year of so i would pressure management into looking at alternative platoon schedules.


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## shfd739 (Oct 7, 2011)

rowdybear said:


> im new to ems field, just got basic in Aug. i started working for a private service in south louisiana and got placed on a 24/48 truck. its the only 24/48 truck in area and the FTO said they have a hard time filling spot cause no one likes the 24 thing, but i was excited to get it. have any of you worked that schedule? pros cons



It wouldn't happen to be the green private service would it? 

I worked a 24 when I first started and loved it at first. Then we'd have a busy night and at 4 or 5 in the morning I was fighting to stay awake and spent my first day off in bed recovering. I don't care for them now. 

If it is the "green" service usually a non-24hr unit will run before the 24hr unit and if you do have a busy day with little or no downtime you can request up to 4 hours of downtime. When you do that you will be assigned to the nearest station and logged off so you can nap undisturbed. 


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## 46Young (Oct 7, 2011)

abckidsmom said:


> I don't like the 24/48 because every single day off you either got off work that morning or have to be back tomorrow.  If you are busy at work and don't sleep it off through your first day off, you lose your first evening of relaxation/entertainment.  If you are busy and need to have a decent bedtime before your shift, you lose your second evening of relaxation/entertainment.
> 
> I like the w/o/w/o/w/oooo schedule.  There's a reason I saw the license plate LVMY4DA on a jeep wrangler with an IAFF sticker in the back window.



I feel the same way. I have that WOWOWOOOO schedule, and it's not bad.

At my last employer, we had a 24/48 w/o Kellys. Understand that if you too little sleep on shift, your next day is ruined or at least half ruined. And yes, you're always going back to work.

Understand that if you work for a department that forces OT on you, holds you over or recalls you due to staffing vacancies/sick leave, you could effectively be doing a 36/36 or 48/24. Been there, done that, never again.

With my schedule, they can't hold you past 12 hours, so no 48 hour shifts. Also, if I take a day off, one of my thrice monthly four day breaks becomes a six day break.

Also, due to FLSA law, after 212 hours, all work hours are time and a half. If you're going to do OT, make sure that you do it early in the 28 day FLSA cycle, so you can double dip. What that means is, you do OT, and it counts as time and a half. It also counts towards the 212 hour threshold, so every hour you do, if you do it in the first week or two, will get you an extra half hour's pay in the back end, the second check of the cycle. It's basically free money. So, for every 12 hours you work, you're getting an extra half hour pay x twelve hours, so it's a free six hours of straight pay. On my check, it shows up as "REG>FLSA Threshold," and it was an extra $1,270 gross on my check. If you do OT, just time it right. Some pay periods have more hours than others, so get it all on paper, then figure out when you want to do some extra hours.


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## abckidsmom (Oct 7, 2011)

46Young said:


> I feel the same way. I have that WOWOWOOOO schedule, and it's not bad.
> 
> At my last employer, we had a 24/48 w/o Kellys. Understand that if you too little sleep on shift, your next day is ruined or at least half ruined. And yes, you're always going back to work.
> 
> ...



I love watching the accountants try to follow the fire schedules.

Our county's schedule is a 24/72, which adds up to 192 hours worked.  Since the paycheck is based on a 212 hour cycle, they only pay half time for the first 20 hours of OT, since you're already "paid" for those hours in your base.  

It's so fishy, the lawyers want to readdress it every year, but they always come out saying it's fine.

BTW, 24/72 is the bomb.  Once a month there's an extra shift they call a "debit day" that gets you up to the 192 hour threshold, but other than that, it's fantastic.

I'm so debating on whether to just go ahead and go full time on this schedule rather than staying PT, and working more days each week for fewer hours.  Then I would get benefits too, though with our family size, it wouldn't save on premiums at all.


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## 46Young (Oct 8, 2011)

abckidsmom said:


> I love watching the accountants try to follow the fire schedules.
> 
> Our county's schedule is a 24/72, which adds up to 192 hours worked.  Since the paycheck is based on a 212 hour cycle, they only pay half time for the first 20 hours of OT, since you're already "paid" for those hours in your base.
> 
> ...



Assuming that your husband works the same type of schedule, if you work two shifts removed from him (A/C, or B/D), there would be no child care issues even if one of you are hld over.

With our schedule, or any 24/48 variant, the average workweek is 56 hours, and the FLSA threshold is 212, which is 53 hours/wk, so anyone doing shift work automatically gets 1 1/2 hrs of straight time extra (1/2 hr x 3), on the average, every week. This is a nice bump when you leave the academy, or return to field after coming off of day work, 1.5 hours pay x 52 weeks, on the average.With a 24/48, some checks have only 96 hours, aome have 120, and others have 144. There are some cycles where it can be difficult to hit the 212. There are other cycles, such as a 96 then 144, where loading up on OT early in that pay cycle (four weeks) will have the most benefit.

In our department, payroll deducts some hours off of certain pay periods, and adds the hours back in on other pay periods. I'm told that this is to even out the hours and pay checks somewhat. With a traditional 24/48 with no movement of hours, you'll always have a small check, a medium, and a large one, as in 96 hrs, 120, and 144.


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## abckidsmom (Oct 8, 2011)

46Young said:


> Assuming that your husband works the same type of schedule, if you work two shifts removed from him (A/C, or B/D), there would be no child care issues even if one of you are held over.



No, he is on your schedule, in a neighboring dept.



> In our department, payroll deducts some hours off of certain pay periods, and adds the hours back in on other pay periods. I'm told that this is to even out the hours and pay checks somewhat. With a traditional 24/48 with no movement of hours, you'll always have a small check, a medium, and a large one, as in 96 hrs, 120, and 144.



That would drive me flat batty.  I am not organized enough for that.


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## rowdybear (Oct 9, 2011)

shfd739 said:


> It wouldn't happen to be the green private service would it?



yep thats the one


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