I am looking for info on how the 12 hour shifts work. can you guys help?

[zmurphy]

Hey guys, i have been reading some threads here and on O.com. so i understand most or all NC DOC's work 12 hr shifts (5:45-18:00, 17:45-6:00). when i was talking with a lady w/ DOC admin, she said the CO's work 3 days on and 2 days off.

can someone possibly give me an example of how this actually works?

also i understand being a CO i would have to work holidays. since NC reconizes pretty much all holidays, do CO's get a "floating holiday" or comp time in allowed when you work holidays?

it sounds like NC DOC is short handed at pretty much every prison. is it hard to get vacation?

sorry for all the questions, but i want to get it straight from some CO's instead of someone in admin.

thanks guys!

[Gooseneck]

This is something I'd like to know as well. I do know that the shifts rotate, 3 on 2 off, 2 on 3 off.

[OfficerPedde]

If you work holidays, you recieve a holiday comp time, it's the same thing as comp time and you can use it like vacation. Getting vacation really depends on how short staffed your shift is and how many people have asked for vacation the same time you have. So it's very important to put in for vacation a few months in advance. As for the schedule, I'm not sure if it's this way at all facilities, this is how we do it at Polk CI. The fifteen minutes (1745-1800) is for line up. This is where you get your assignment (1800-0600 or vice versa) is when you are on your post. Now for the days off, you have a long week and a short week and they alternate. So you would work like this... Mon:On Tues: On Wed:Off Thurs:Off Fri-Sun: On (you'll be dead tired when you get off on the last day). Then the next week it reverses, Mon and Tues: OFF Wed and Thursday: On, Fri-Sun: Off. So it's real nice having three day weekends every other week. Also when you accrue vacation time, take wed and thursday off and you have a whole week off.

[Custodian]

If your prison is under the Unit Management System (in other words broken up into specific units by area or task) things also change a bit. You have specific Unit Managers (Usually a Lieutenant) who you obtain & must approve your requests for vacation/time off/sick time from.

By the by, even though you report for line-up 15 minutes early, are required to be there, & can be punished for not doing so, you do not get paid for this time.

Also, North Carolina vacation for the state is only, 8 hours. You have a 12.25 hour day. No it does not add up. A lot of arguments have stemmed from this very fact.

My unit has said DOC/the state is exempt from rules regarding breaks & lunch time. Which translates into, I haven't seen one in some time now. But every prison is different in how they apply this.

[Gooseneck]

You mean you dont even get a lunch break ??

[Custodian]

Many days at my institution, I know I haven't. I have been told, Correctional Officers (this does not mean Sgts. and Lts. and above) are exempt from standard breaks and other things like that. And bringing something you have to warm-up, has become a bad idea. There are no microwaves on any of the towers of my institution or in control stations (They are usually bundled up inside the Sergeants/Lieutenants offices). Your Sergeant & Lieutenant, will normally, not relieve you. Certain posts & the tasks those posts demand, isolate you from relief. Either that, or your supervisors are shiftless. Hope you are a sandwich man.

[Gooseneck]

Originally Posted by Custodian

Hope you are a sandwich man.

Very much so actually. Do you just bring a cold lunch everyday and eat it when you can??

[Custodian]

Originally Posted by Gooseneck

Very much so actually. Do you just bring a cold lunch everyday and eat it when you can??

That's pretty much how it works. However, I work in a unit that is spread out across the entire prison unlike normal units. My experiences maybe to that very fact. So, this is my disclaimer, void where prohibited, except in Indiana.

[Bowles]

NC recognizes 12 holidays per year. If you are scheduled to work a holiday you will receive time plus 3/4. You will receive an additional 8 hours off at some point in the year for each holiday if you actually work it or not. You will be required to either work the other 4.25 hours or use vacation time to make it a full 12.25 hours.

As stated above, we work a rotating schedule with every other Friday, Saturday and Sunday off.

No employer in NC is required (even though most do) to give you anything other than bathroom breaks.
Our Superintendent has said he wants each C/O to receive one 30 minute break each day. In the past 5 years I've received exactly 1 of those breaks. You just eat on the run when you can.
You'll see all the other staff, medical, programs, maintenance etc leave the unit for lunch everyday. If you as a C/O are lucky enough to be allowed to leave the unit (probably picking up lunch for the shift) you'll be required to use vacation or comp time for the time you are gone.

Each C/O will receive 1 built in comp day per month, depending upon your supervisor this can work out with your holidays to get you one week off per month.

12 hours on the unit can be rough, but for me at least the time off is worth it. Our 8 hour schedule was so screwed up I couldn't tell if I was working or not unless I had a schedule in front of me. You'd be off on Tuesday then Friday then Wed and Thur then Monday, then Sat and Sun or some other screwed up mess similar to that lol.

[OfficerPedde]

Thats why you work at night and you have a break for the rest of the night after the inmates go to sleep.