RE: Helicopter downtime compensation

From: "Sherry, Scott" <SSherry@statmedevac.com>

Date: Fri, 14 Jun 2002 22:20:24 -0400

Interesting management policy. In my program the flightcrews get paid for every hour we are at work, regardless of the status of the aircraft. We operate 11 helicopter bases and, although many of them are based at hospitals, these hospitals are rural or suburban hospitals, not trauma centers (with the exception of one aircraft which is based at a Level II trauma center), so I guess you could say that most of our aircraft are considered "satellite" locations. If an aircraft is going to be down for an extended period of time (usually more than 8 hours), the flightcrew, depending on where it is, may be required to drive to our main headquarters in Pittsburgh to staff fixed wing, but not always. Regardless, we are paid for the time we are at work, and I believe that is the way it should be. In our program, just because the aircraft may be out of service, the medical crew is not. Many times, whether due to weather or maintenance, if the aircraft is out of service, the medical crew will complete missions by ground.

As far as the issue of being paid half your wage from 0200 - 0800 due to sleep time issues, I would agree with Mr. Williams in that, if you are required to remain at the base and ready to respond, then you should be paid your full wage. This might stir the pot a bit, but if crews are routinely sleeping all night (or at least from 0200-0800), then maybe your service should be marketing itself a little better. I can't remember the last shift I worked when I was able to sleep for more than 2 hours, much less all night long, and we do 24 hour shifts also (and believe me, some nights I'd gladly take 1/2 my wage per hour for a good night's sleep!).

At any rate, I hope your new administrator is receptive to the changes you are suggesting. This job can be stressful enough without having to worry about burning vacation time when you don't want to due to helicopter preventative maintenance or being required to "punch out and go home" without pay because of aircraft issues. If your system's overall flight volume will support it then I believe the flightcrews need compensated your full wage for every minute you are required to be there. Best of luck with your new boss.

Fly safe everyone!

_______________________________
Scott C. Sherry
STAT MedEvac
Pittsburgh, PA
MedEvac 6 - Clarion Base
www.STATMedEvac.com

-----Original Message-----
From: Christy Foster [mailto:floridaflightgal@yahoo.com]
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 3:53 PM
To: flightmed@flightweb.com
Subject: Helicopter downtime compensation

I am seeking responses from flight services who are not based at a hospital, but are at a satellite location about how your flight crew is compensated when the helicopter is down for maintenance.

Currently, our hospital's policy is to either a) send the crew home if the aircraft is not going to be up and running prior to the end of their shift and the crew has to use their vacation time or take the remainder of the shift unpaid or b) the crew may choose to drive to the hospital, which is 60 miles away and work in the Trauma Center for the remainder of their shift and will be paid their full shift pay. We work the basic 24/48 hour shifts.

Also, we are only paid 1/2 of our hourly rate from 0200-0800, which they consider to be "sleep pay", but if we get a flight, we get the full hourly rate for the entire shift.

We have brought these issues up to our new Administrator and he is willing to re-visit the policy, if we can show him that other programs use a different system. If anyone would be willing to share their policy w/me, I would greatly appreciate it. We all feel that when our a/c is down due to no fault of ours, we should not be penalized and have to use our vacation time or take the time unpaid. We also feel that since we are required to stay at work for 24 hours at a very remote location, we should be compensated for the full 24 hours, rather than the 18 we are currently paid full hourly rate for.

If you prefer, you may respond privately to me.

Thank you in advance for your responses.

Christy Foster, Flight Paramedic

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