Each employee assigned to work a special event shall have the employee's work hours established by the guidelines provided in this Article unless the employee is specifically directed by a supervisor to perform work before or after the special event. In those instances, start and end of watch shall be determined by the involved supervisor(s).
A. Start of Watch. An employee assigned to an event away from their regular work location shall be permitted to respond to their assigned workplace to retrieve equipment and prepare for the assignment. The employee shall be provided with a reasonable period of on-duty time for transportation to the assignment.
If no additional equipment or vehicles are required, an employee may choose to dress at home and report directly to the special event. In this case, the employee’s start of watch will be the assigned report, check-in, or roll-call time.
B. Early Report. When an employee is required to report to a specific supervisor or location prior to roll call, start of watch shall be the time the employee reports to the supervisor or location, with consideration of the above transportation provisions.
C. Equipment Required. When an employee is required to bring specified equipment, start of watch is generally when the employee checks out the required equipment at a work place.
Note: Equipment provided at the event is not considered "required" for the purpose of determining start of watch. Additionally, an employee required to obtain equipment may not be the same employee who is required to return such equipment, e.g., the employee who obtained the equipment is held over to complete a booking and reports, and a supervisor designates another employee to return the equipment to a specific location.
Exception: Employees are required to bring a Department radio to the event and will be supplied with fresh batteries at the event. In this case, the employee may elect to take the Department radio home after the employee's last shift and report directly to the special event. Start of watch would either be roll call or early report as specified above.
D. Vehicle Required. When an employee, not assigned a take-home vehicle, is required to bring a Department vehicle to a special event, start of watch is when the employee checks out the vehicle.
If employees are required to carpool due to deployment needs or specifics of the assignment, start of watch for the passengers shall be the departure time from the assigned division.
E. End of Watch. At the end of the special event, an employee's end of watch will be determined as follows (whether part of a regular work day or as overtime):
1. At the special event if the employee is not required to return equipment and/or a vehicle; or,
2. At the time the employee(s) equipment and/or a vehicle is returned to the designated location; or,
3. When the employee completes other required duties such as arrest, booking, reports, etc.
Note: If the special event ends prior to the employee having worked the number of hours that constitutes a working day (shift) for the employee, the remaining time shall be spent completing other Department-related duties as directed by the on- duty watch commander or Unit officer-in-charge. If approved by the watch commander or officer-in-charge, the employee may utilize compensatory time off (CTO) or vacation hours in lieu of working the remaining hours of the assigned workday.
F. The Department agrees to make a reasonable effort to ensure that employees on fixed post assignments during special events have an opportunity to take a break to attend to their personal needs. Any such break must be approved by a supervisor prior to taking the break.
