How to Audit Overtime Hiring Against the Sign-Up List

Most overtime disputes are argued from memory. The paper record — the sign-up book, the call list, the tracking forms — usually settles the question, but only if someone lines it up. Checking a single day by hand is slow, so most days are never checked, and a skipped volunteer only surfaces when the member notices.

Start by gathering the day's paperwork: the sign-up sheet for the shift, the call list with the time and result of each call, any tracking or justification forms, and the roster of assignment. Note the credited-hours figures printed on the list; under most overtime articles they decide who is offered overtime next.

Then rebuild the order. For each block that needed coverage, list the volunteers who signed up for it in the order your contract requires — often fewest credited hours first. Next, list the calls actually made, in time order, with the result of each: accepted, refused, no answer, or message left. Read each call entry on its own; a misread time changes the order.

Compare the two lists. The checks that find most errors are a volunteer who signed up and was never called, a call to someone further down the list before someone above them, overtime mandated while volunteers were still available, someone hired who never signed up, a list that isn't sorted by credited hours, and credited hours that don't match the printed totals.

Document each possible error before anything is filed: the sign-up line, the call list entry, and the rule from your overtime article. Have an officer check every finding against the paper; one that survives that check is ready for whatever remedy your contract provides. Union Boss does the reading and the cross-checking from one scan of the day's packet, shows every sign-up line beside its strip of the original scan, and leaves the judgment to your officers.