1. Up until just after Rick Scott came into office Correctional Officers were allowed to “bank” special comp. leave. This was due to the fact that getting time off is almost impossible due to how our time off is done almost a year in advance and by time and rank and staffing levels. So we were able to keep the leave to use at a later date when we were properly staffed which has never happened.

2. Per 60L-34.0031 Regular Time and Overtime found at the following website https://www.flrules.org/gateway/RuleNo.asp?title=ATTENDANCE%20AND%20LEAVE&ID=60L-34.0031 on the Florida Administrative Code states “(d) At the close of business on December 31 and June 30 of each year, or other dates approved by the Department, pay the employee for all unused credits at the employee’s straight time regular hourly rate of pay.” So requesting payout is within the rules of the Florida Administrative code.

3. Rick Scott came in and changed the policy to use it or lose it (Believed by Correctional officers to be used as an attempt to burn off the 22 million owed to them in unused time so he could privatize the prisons.) so that those of us with 400 hours of vacation and almost 900 hours of special comp. to lose our vacation time into sick because we are compelled to use our Special Comp. time before vacation time but then deny 90% of our time off requests “due to staffing levels and institutional need”.

4. They main reasons we have accrued so much time is due to just making critical shift means almost no time off. At one point my facility was at a 20.8% vacancy rate for officers. Meaning 1 out of 5 positions was empty. In 2 years we have lost half of our staff only to replace them with new staff.

When you sign a contract with someone shouldn’t they have to follow it? I could go on about the pension issue as well but I will leave that be. All we want is to have either time with our families or the money owed per policy.

The best way to deal with folks that cannot deal squarely is what they don’t know won’t hurt them and what they cannot detect, they cannot affect or correct.

I am suspect of the union’s stand. Many governmental agencies offer paid off time, paid overtime or paid compensatory time off for holidays worked by employees, depending on policies/agreements. Often, too, compensatory banks are limited to an accrual amount; once reached and not taken, the bank ceases to accrue. Maybe this is the case?