Comment by RandomBacon
3 months ago
40 hours per week.
Most people work 8 hours a day, 5 days a week. Some work 10 hours a day, 4 days a week. A few work 10 hours one day, 6 hours a second day, and 8 hours the third/fourth/fifth days.
Many facilities are 24/7 so we have rotating schedules where people have to work the midnight shifts. Shift work is brutal.
Most controllers also work Saturdays and Sundays. Controllers often miss their kid's activities and other family or social functions.
Standard Federal leave accrual: - 4 hours of sick leave every pay period (two weeks). - Employees with 0-3 years accrue 4 hours of annual leave per pay period. - Employees with 3-15 years accrue 6 hours... - Employees with 15+ years accrue 8 hours...
We bid once a year for our RDOs (Regular Days Off aka "weekend") and annual leave for the following year.
Some controllers advocate that we should accrue more sick leave (and they make good points), and while the 4 hours may be a federal law, they could implement work-arounds such as allowing us to accrue an additional different type of leave.
Opinions are my own and not necessarily of the FAA.
Thanks for the reply. There are a few claiming 12 hours per day, but it looks like it depends on the site.
Sorry for the delay, I wanted to write a long reply about my experience in math/physics. Short version:
After teaching math for 3 hours I get tired, and in some special cases I teach for 6 hours but at the 5 hours mark I was making too many errors. (And it included some pauses in between.) I'd would not try to make a decisions that risk lives after that.
I took some exams that were 3, 5 or even 8 hours long. It's possible but I have to administer the pauses, bathroom and even going to the bar to drink a coffee to survive them and give good answers. And in case of a mistake, I can review it half an hour later and there are no lives at risk.