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6. ARTICLE 19 — SHIFT EXCHANGE Issue: Paragraphs 19.01, 19.02, 19.03, 19.04, and 19.05 of this Article remain in dispute. Section 7(p)(3) of the Fair Labor Standards Act ("FLSA") provides that two individuals employed in the same capacity by the same public agency may agree, solely at their option and with the approval of the public agency, to substitute for one another during scheduled work hours. It further states that the hours worked by the substituting employee shall be excluded by the public agency in the calculation of the hours for which the substituting employee is entitled to overtime compensation under the FLSA. The implementing regulations provide that when "one employee substitutes for another, each employee will be credited as if he or she had worked his or her normal work schedule for that shift." 29 CFR §553.31(a). In other words, if employees A and B agree to exchange scheduled shifts, when employee B works for employee A, employee A is paid as if he/she worked the shift even though he/she did not work, and employee B receives no pay for working the shift. The opposite occurs when the exchange is completed by employee A working for employee B. Under the current Article 19, bargaining unit employees have the ability to exchange shifts with their co-workers, provided the exchange does not interfere with the Division's operation and subject to approval of the Emergency Services Director. Over the years, this has morphed into a system whereby the bargaining unit employees have carte blanch to exchange shifts without limitation on: the number each year, when both sides of the exchange will occur (i.e., when the initial exchange will be paid back), or if a complete exchange will occur, (i.e., if the initial exchange will be paid back). Moreover, this has morphed into a system whereby the bargaining unit employees have carte blanche to exchange shifts without consideration of: the ultimate impact it has on shift staffing, or the impact on training and assessment. Thus, the County seeks to place some reasonable controls on the use of shift exchanges. Local 2201 opposes the County's proposed changes. Special Magistrate's Recommendation: Adopt Local 2201's proposal on 1119.01 with the change "up to a maximum of 12 full shifts and 6 partial shifts per fiscal year." Adopt 719.02, 19.03, and 19.04 as proposed by the County. Delete 1119.05. County Administrator's Recommendation: The end result of the current system in which bargaining unit employees have carte blanch to exchange shifts as they please is that the Division now has employees who are engaging in up to 40 shift exchanges each year. As the 24- hour shift bargaining unit employees are scheduled to work 10 shifts each month, 13 13