Hours of Service

FACTS ABOUT NEW PASSENGER HOURS OF SERVICE
By – Mike Reilly

I have taken the liberty of taking key components of the new Passenger Hours of Service Regulation and reviewing these important sections.  I wish to extend our thanks to the BLE&T’s General Chairman Dave Decker  and member Robert Davia who assisted in providing information for this document.  This final rule is authorized by the Rail Safety Improvement Act of 2008, which for the first time in history, gives FRA the authority to replace the existing statutory limitations (first enacted in 1907) with a new set of hours of service regulations governing train employees providing passenger rail transportation.  Freight and Passenger service has always been under the same hours of service requirements.  With the passage of this new law, Congress gave the passenger railroads the opportunity work out a new passenger hours of service requirement.  This required that the Government (DOT / FRA), Railroad Management and Railroad Labor meet to come to a consensus on the language of new passenger hours of service requirement by October of 2011, otherwise the passengers employees would be subject to the same provisions as the freight railroads.  Knowing that the provisions of the freight hours of service requirements would severely hamper our members earning ability, UTU was forceful in molding these new regulations.

• The final rule was published in the Federal Register on August 12, 2011.  It became effective on October 15, 2011.
• The major changes that affect our members will become effective on April 12, 2012.
• Current hours of service requirements remain in place, such as eight hours off between assignments, ten (10) hours off, for twelve (12) or more continuous hours on duty, no requirement for undisturbed rest. Also, Interim releases of at least four (4) hours at a designated terminal remain in effect.
• The new requirements limit the number of consecutive days a member can work, which depends on what type assignments they work.

1. 1.     Will it put me over the cumulative days worked cap?

If an employee initiates an on-duty period on 13 or 14 calendar days of a period of 14 consecutive days then the employee must have 2 consecutive calendar days without initiating an on-duty period at the employee’s home terminal.

The key to this cap is a rolling 14 day window.  The first day of the window is the first day that you go on duty after the last 14 day window ends.  The rolling 14 day window ends on the 14^th consecutive day, or may last for less than 14 days if you have a total of two calendar days on which you do not initiate an on-duty period.  Once a rolling window ends, the next window starts on the next calendar day that you initiate an on-duty period.

You may not count a day without an on-duty period before the beginning of your current 14 day window as one of the days without a start for your current rolling 14 day window.  So if you get 3 days without a start, you cannot count the last idle day in your next 14 day window, because the window doesn’t begin until you have a day with an on-duty period.  See example below.

Note:  What matters here are days where you START an assignment.  If your assignment works from Monday at 8:00 PM to Tuesday at 3:00 AM, then you performed work on both days, but you only have an “on duty initiation” on Monday, not on Tuesday (unless of course you get another assignment that starts later in the day on Tuesday after you are rested).  This rule counts the days you START work, not the days where you worked to finish an assignment.

The rule counts “days with initiated on-duty periods” and not the number of starts.  If you have a day with two starts, that is counted as any other day with a single start.  So, in theory, you could have 14 days where you doubled out and not be in violation of the rule, although you would need to take 2 calendar days with no starts on your 15^th and 16^th day.

If during your current 14 day rolling window you get 13 or 14 days where you initiated an on duty period, you must then have 2 calendar days (not just 48 hours) without starting an on-duty period before you return to work.  You may not start work more than 14 straight days.  If you start work on the 14^th day of your current window, you would need to take days 15 and 16 off.  (An exception exists for deadheading or working on the 15^th day that won’t apply to NJT because we always end our shifts at the same location where we begin them.)  Note that if your assignment on day 14 extends into day 15, day 15 still counts as one of your two days without starts because you started the assignment on day 14.

Another case involves deadhead to an assignment.  For example, if an assignment that starts early in the morning, say Monday at 1:30 AM, and the Trainman deadheads to the sign up location, the assignment would actually “start” on Sunday if the deadhead time is 1 ½ hours or more.  This can be particularly tricky if it occurs at the end of a 14-day window.  If you worked 14 straight days, you need days 15 and 16 without a start.  If you are called for an assignment for day 17 (which would be day 1 of your new 14 day window) but that assignment starts early in the morning, and your deadhead begins before 12:01AM, that makes it a start on day 16 and YOU MUST NOT ACCEPT THE ASSIGNMENT.

Also this rule only applies to “covered service.”  For T&E employees this means every time you sign in at the register to start a shift, whether or not you actually perform covered service.  For example, you may have a protect job, and during a shift you may not have been ordered to move any trains.  Still, once you sign in at the register, you have begun covered service, and so had a start that day.  However, taking a class is only covered service if it is commingled with other covered service.  So when you take a Rules Class and you are rested before and after the class, that day is NOT counted as a day with an on duty initiation for your current 14 day window of cumulative days worked.  Another example of this for Conductors is a flagging job.  Most flagging jobs are not covered service, and therefore would be considered a day without an initiated on duty period.

You must keep a record of every day that you start work (TRO-Q), and that record will include the date that your current 14 day rolling window began, and the date of the calendar day without a start (if one exists).  NJ Transit is modifying the current TRO-Q to include the type of assignment and the series of days.

For T&E employees working regular assignments and not on the Supplemental Extra List, this cumulative work cap will have no effect.  Those T&E employees on the Extra List and the Supplemental Extra  List will have to monitor their work with regard to this cap.

1. 2.      Will it put me over the Type 2 cap? 

After 6 consecutive days with starts that include at least one Type 2 assignment, you must have 24 consecutive hours off duty.  This means that you could start work six days in a row all with Type 2 assignments, and then are required to have 24 hours rest.   Or you could work for ten days in a row with all Type 1 assignments and then work a single Type 2 assignment, after which you must have 24 consecutive hours off.  Also, you could work any combination of Type 1 and 2 assignments for 4 days at the beginning of a 14 day window and then have a day without a start; the calendar day you don’t start work means that you have not worked consecutive days and so the Type 2 cap no longer applies to this series of work days. (An exception exists for deadheading or working on the 7^th day that won’t apply to NJT because we always end our shifts at the same location where we begin them.)

This six day window exists within the 14 day rolling window.  If you need to take 24 hours off because you have had 6 consecutive days with starts that include Type 2 assignments, those 24 hours may be one of the calendar days without on-duty periods in your 14 day window, as long as the time off spans an entire calendar day.  (For example, if on your sixth day with a start you work from 1AM to 11AM, you need to take 24 hours off, but you don’t get called for any work on day 7; when you return to work on day 8 you will have met the 24 hours off requirement, and had one calendar day without a start in the current 14 day rolling window.  If, however, you get called to work at 11AM or later on day 7, you will have met the need for 24 hours off, but you did not have a full calendar day without a start in the current 14 day rolling window.)

You could work a string of consecutive days with only Type 1 assignments, and then get a Type 2 job.  Depending on how many days you had worked Type 1 assignments, the Type 2 assignment will impact your schedule in different ways.  If you worked 4 or fewer days with Type 1 starts, then a Type 2 assignment, you can continue working on consecutive days until you get 6 consecutive days with starts, then you must take the mandatory 24 hours off.  If you worked 6 or more consecutive days with only Type 1 assignments, and then worked a Type 2 assignment, then you must take your mandatory 24 hour starting as soon as you are released.  If you worked 5 consecutive days with only Type 1 assignments, and get a Type 2 assignment on day 6, then you must take your mandatory 24 hours off starting as soon as you are released.  If you worked 5 consecutive days with only Type 1 assignments, and then get a Type 2 assignment as a second start on day 5, then you can accept another start on day 6, and follow that assignment with the required 24 hours off.

Because the Type 2 six day window exists within the cumulative days worked rolling 14 day window, it is possible to trip both caps at the same time.  If you work only Type 1 assignments for 13 consecutive days, and on the 14^th day you receive a Type 2 assignment, then you must take BOTH the 24 hours off (for six consecutive days that include a Type 2 assignment) and the two calendar days off (for working 13 or more consecutive days in the current 14 day window), however the two rest periods are taken concurrently.  So after two calendar days without starts, you would have met BOTH requirements for rest (24 consecutive hours and 2 calendar days), and your next 14 day rolling window will begin on the next day that you work.

WORKING AS A CONDUCTOR/FLAGMAN OR ATTENDING INSTRUCTION CLASSES

Since the Conductor/Flagman or attending instruction classes is not considered under the hours of service, below are some examples of different work schedules involving flagman and attending classes.