Boston Firefighters Given New Schedule to Curb Sick Day Misuse

Boston Fire Commissioner Joseph E. Finn, in his first major initiative since taking the job in July, is moving to tighten the work schedules of the city’s 1,400 firefighters to eliminate rampant misuse of sick time and ripe-for-corruption swapping and selling of shifts, reports The Boston Globe.

Beginning Saturday, firefighters on the job will have a new work week that includes two full 24-hour shifts. They must submit requests for time off in the same way most other city workers are required. And they will be forbidden from banking swaps for the future, a standard practice that officials say has gone out of control.

The new plan could also be viewed as a boon for firefighters, who will have more days off in a row. But it also follows through on Finn’s pledge when he took on his new position to restructure management and bring greater accountability and cohesiveness to the department.

The commissioner said he expects it to drastically curb what he calls “out of control” practices that can be exploited and wreak havoc on scheduling. “I’m bringing consistency and continuity back to the fire corps, which will make us more efficient on the fire grounds,’” Finn said.

The commissioner said he hopes to curb the excessive practice of firefighters trading shifts, calling in sick, or otherwise gaming the system to collect overtime. In some cases, firefighters have been absent from work for more than a month while someone else on the force covered their shifts, critics and reform advocates said.

Some firefighters have missed critical training days because they were not at work. In addition, the practice makes it difficult for lieutenants and captains, who run fire companies and fire houses, to know who will be in the work crew on any particular shift, some critics said.

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