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Firefighter Shift Calendar and Day Planner Products

Firefighters and the FLSA Cycle

Firefighter Shift Calendars for Fire and EMS Professionals

Firefighters and the FLSA Cycle 

Have you ever wondered what the FLSA cycle is and what it means to Firefighters? Why is the cycle different for every department?

The purpose of the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) cycle is to ensure Firefighters earn the overtime they are entitled to. For general workers this threshold is over 40 hours a week. For Firefighters it equates to greater than 53 hours a week.

A City/Department typically chooses a cycle that is an creates an even number of work days per shift. This cycle is required to be between 7 and 28 days. The easiest way to determine your cycle choices is to find how often your schedule rotates. For instance if you work a 48/96 schedule, it has to be a multiple of 6 (12,18, or 24); 3/4 is 9 (9,18, or 27); 1/2 is 3 (9,12,15,18,21,24, or 27).

For example using the 48/96 work schedule and a 14 day pay period:

The 18 day work period maximum hours as defined by FLSA is 136 hours. Every hour worked over this amount is considered overtime. However, FLSA allows for Cities/Departments to spread it across the year (ie 112 hours per two week pay period).

Here is the breakdown for hours per pay period:

365 days/18 day work period = 20.277 work periods in a year.
20.277 work periods * 144 hours actually worked = 2919.888 hours worked in a year
365 days/14 day pay periods = 26.071 pay periods in a year
2919.888 hours worked in a year/26.071 pay periods = 112 hours per pay period.

Now for the FLSA overtime:

365 days/18 day work period = 20.277 work periods in a year.
20.277 work periods * 8 hours of overtime (144- 136) = 162.216 hours worked in a year
365 days/14 day pay periods = 26.071 pay periods in a year
162.216 hours worked in a year/26.071 pay periods = 6 hours of 1/2 time per pay period.

They already pay you the straight time for the hours worked, so they only owe you the additional 1/2 time. Each check should have the equivalent of 6 hours of 1/2 time.

This formula is regardless of schedule. You can plug your own work cycle and pay period numbers in and should get a similar result. For convenience, I listed the FLSA work period Max hours from DOL below.

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Maximum hours standards
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Work period (days) Fire (1st Column) Law (2nd Column)
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28............................................ 212 171
27............................................ 204 165
26............................................ 197 159
25............................................ 189 153
24............................................ 182 147
23............................................ 174 141
22............................................ 167 134
21............................................ 159 128
20............................................ 151 122
19............................................ 144 116
18............................................ 136 110
17............................................ 129 104
16............................................ 121 98
15............................................ 114 92
14............................................ 106 86
13............................................ 98 79
12............................................ 91 73
11............................................ 83 67
10............................................ 76 61
9............................................. 68 55
8............................................. 61 49
7............................................. 53 43
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Firefighter Day Planner

We offer a wide array of affordable, high quality, customized shift calendar and day planner products for Fire and EMS professionals.

Firefighter Day Planner 

The Large Day Planner is the most versatile of the shift calendar products. This Day Planner similar to the ones purchased at your local office supply store. It is the large 8.5" x 11" size. It has a month view across two pages; followed by the corresponding weeks. Each week is across two pages.

All dates are color coded to your corresponding shifts, with the same payday/ holiday feature as our wall or desk calendars. With sections for personal contacts, notes, income tax information, daily mileage and expenses.

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Firefighter Shift Calendars

Significance of Shift Calendar Colors for Firefighters

Firefighter Shift Calendar

When you look at a Firefighter’s calendar, the first thing that stands out is the colors. The colors simplify the calendar to help Firefighters and their families keep organized by knowing which days are duty days and which are not.

Typically, Firefighters work a rotating pattern of 24 or 12 hour shifts. There may be as few as 2 shifts and as many as 26, like FDNY. The most common number of shifts are 3 for small to medium size fire departments and 4 for larger fire departments.

For example: A fire department has 3 shifts; A, B, and C. Each shift has 4 engines with 4 personnel each for a total of 16 Firefighters on duty a day. On January 1^st, A shift is on duty. On January 2^nd, B shift is on duty. And on January 3^rd, C shift is on duty.

The shift pattern continues to rotate indefinitely. This is a very simplified version. There are many more complicated patterns that are out there. Either way, simple or complicated, these shifts are indicated by a color on a calendar. A shift may be red; B blue; and C green.

The standard colors on most shift calendars are going to be red, blue, and green. These are the most effective colors on any shift calendar because they are easily visible to the human eye. The three colors are considered the primary colors of the visible light spectrum.

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Custom Fire and EMS Shift Calendars