Bulletin 91-26

Over the last three days, members have once again been required to make significant sacrifices under a recall process marked by confusion, inconsistent direction, and excessive work hours.

On Wednesday, management notified UFLAC that significant wind events were forecast and that the Department would augment staffing, using recall to fill those additional positions if there were insufficient volunteers.

To be clear, particularly following the Palisades fire, members should understand that forecasted emergency conditions can justify additional staffing. The Department’s Phase 2 recall language provides:

“A recall of on-duty sworn members for additional hours due to a catastrophic event, a single large and overwhelming emergency incident, a combination of large emergency incidents, or due to an actual or forecasted unusual, critical, and sustained increase in emergency activity.”

The concern is how management is exercising that authority and treating the members required to carry out its decisions.

Once again, management implemented a recall without a clear, consistently communicated structure. Confusion remains over the restrictions and procedures used during recalls earlier this year, which UFLAC challenged through grievances that proceeded to arbitration last week.

The Department’s own guidance raises basic questions. MOPS references “Book 21,” which does not exist. The November 2025 Special Notice includes a brief supplemental notice addressing how NSS identifies members for recall. Yet reports from the field indicate that previously established conditions and procedures are not being consistently followed. Members and supervisors are left trying to determine which rules apply while the recall is already underway.

From February through August of this year, members endured recalls that UFLAC has challenged as unlawful through the grievance and arbitration process. The membership is exhausted by repeated failures in management’s planning and decision-making, and tired of being forced to bear the consequences.

That confusion has real consequences.

Members have reported threats of being designated AWOL when reporting a legitimate NIOD condition. Management previously instructed members not to enter SK/FE for recalls, then expressed surprise when members subsequently needed to go home SK/FE.

A forecast can support emergency preparedness even before a major incident occurs. It does not eliminate the need for clear procedures governing illness, eligibility, relief, and member safety.

UFLAC is also receiving reports of members being required to work beyond 120 hours, including 144, 168, and reportedly as many as 240 consecutive hours. Members have been subjected to these demands without advance warning or clear Department messaging, and without meeting and conferring with UFLAC over these extended work requirements.

Fatigue is a safety issue. Our members deserve a clear answer about when they will be relieved.

Members understand the responsibility to respond during an emergency. They have repeatedly demonstrated that commitment. But management continues to undermine confidence when it uses emergency recall to fill normal staffing vacancies while requiring extraordinary hours without a clearly explained plan.

Additional staffing tied to forecasted emergency conditions must be identified and explained. Routine vacancies require a staffing plan that accounts for the Department’s ongoing needs and the limits of its workforce.

UFLAC is calling on management to provide clear written direction addressing:

• Recall eligibility, selection, and applicable restrictions.
• Procedures for legitimate NIOD, SK, and FE circumstances.
• Maximum consecutive work hours, fatigue, and relief.
• The distinction between emergency augmentation and normal staffing vacancies.
• Consistent instructions for NSS, supervisors, and members.
• Clear and consistent recall procedures for member in specialty assignments and ranks (Inspectors, Special Duty, etc).

Members should document conflicting instructions, hours worked, threats of AWOL designation, and problems involving illness or relief, and provide that information to UFLAC.

Our members have carried the burden of this Department’s staffing failures for too long. Their commitment deserves competent planning, consistent rules, and respect for the sacrifices they and their families continue to make.

Please report any issues or inconsistencies to an Executive Board member or Secretary Ryan Quigley at rquigley@uflac.org.

IMPORTANT: If you are recalled in ANY capacity, verify that you are being compensated appropriately. If the Department cancels your CTO time off and requires you to work, you must still receive the applicable PA compensation. Contact UFLAC if your recall compensation is missing or incorrect.