By Harry Schiffman

Recently, The Nevada Independent published an article on overtime in Nevada’s Department of Corrections (NDOC), where the deputy director of Support Services alleges that corrections officers are intentionally “gaming the system” and that “there is collusion going on in order to generate schedules that would result in ‘feathering one’s nest.'"

The local chapter of AFSCME (the American Federation of State, City and Municipal Employees), the organization that represents state workers, wishes to present the other side of the story. In reality, it is poor management and inadequate staffing that has created the need for overtime, resulting in the current fiscal crisis.

In order to meet the governor’s budget, the NDOC intentionally has underestimated the number of correctional officers necessary to efficiently operate the facilities. The Department’s Administrative Regulations have prescribed procedures for responding to a shift vacancy that should be used before resorting to overtime, but management doesn’t follow them because of purported budgeting constraints.

The majority of overtime in Nevada’s correctional institutions is mandated overtime, not voluntary. The Indy article itself notes that only 7 percent of overtime is on a voluntary basis, meaning that 93 percent of the overtime is a forced mandate that officers come in on their scheduled time off. If there was collusion, it stands to reason that these numbers would be vastly different.

In addition, the article indicates that the majority of overtime is in Southern Nevada, again intimating that there is regional collusion. In fact, the difference is that the facilities in the north run on 12-hour shifts while the facilities in the south are on 8-hour shifts. The 12-hour shift rotation is significantly more efficient with less call-ins and fewer issues with covering posts. If 12-hour shifts were implemented in Southern Nevada, you would see the same effect.

The fact is that staff morale among corrections officers is at an all-time low, due in large part to staff shortages. The treatment and disrespect that these officers experience on a day-to-day basis is one of the reasons that officers do not want to volunteer for overtime.

The auditors who completed their research failed to speak to any officers who could share actual experiences with overtime and present concrete solutions to address the issue. As the union that represents state employees in Nevada, we offer our services to The Nevada Independent to interview workers or get information that pertains to the people who are most impacted. We want you to have the whole story.

Harry Schiffman is president of AFSCME Local 4041.