Kelly schedule

How the Kelly rotation works

The Kelly schedule takes the 24/48's alternating days and rearranges them so that a four-day break appears. Over nine days you work a 24 on day 1, day 3 and day 5, then have days 6 through 9 off. Three shifts in nine days is exactly what a 24/48 delivers; the difference is that the Kelly compresses them into the first five days so the last four are clear.

The name comes from the Kelly day, an extra day off historically added to firefighter rotations to bring average hours down toward a contract target. Over time the phrase Kelly schedule came to mean this three-and-four shape. Departments differ in the details: some run it exactly as shown, some run 24/48 and add a Kelly day every 12 or 15 days instead, and a few call any scheduled extra day off a Kelly day. Ask which your department means.

Three platoons share the nine-day cycle, and the generator's crew buttons stagger them three days apart. Because nine days is not a whole number of weeks, your shift days walk backwards through the week by two days per cycle, so weekends rotate round rather than repeating.

Hours, overtime, and what it pays

Three 24-hour shifts in nine days is 72 hours per cycle, an average of 56 a week, identical to the 24/48 and the 48/96. Where a department adds a separate Kelly day on top of this cycle the average drops; 48 to 52 hours are common contract targets, which is why the phrase Kelly day is so often about pay rather than the calendar.

Overtime follows the FLSA section 7(k) rules for fire protection employees: a work period of 7 to 28 days chosen by the employer, and overtime above 212 hours in 28 days or the proportional threshold. At 56 hours a week the Kelly runs 224 hours per 28 days, 12 over the threshold, unless Kelly days pull it under. Contracts often convert those 12 hours into a fixed FLSA payment each period. The table above shows the 40-hour comparison only.

A 24-hour shift can include sleep and meal time, and whether that counts as paid time depends on a written agreement; most fire departments count the whole 24. When a 24 crosses a holiday, most policies pay the holiday premium only for the hours on the holiday date, which the holiday pay calculator handles by hours rather than shifts.

Who uses it and why

The Kelly schedule is used by career fire departments across the United States, particularly larger city and county departments, and by airport rescue and firefighting units that inherited fire-service rostering. It is less common in private EMS, where 12-hour units or the 24/48 dominate.

Firefighters like it because the four-day break is predictable and comes without stacking two 24s together, so it avoids the second-day fatigue of the 48/96. Departments like it because it keeps three platoons and the familiar A, B, C rhythm while offering a break that helps with retention. The trade-off is three shifts in five days: day 5's shift starts after only 24 hours off from day 3's.

Pros and cons

Where the Kelly sits between the 24/48 and the 48/96.

• —Pro: four consecutive days off every nine days, without using leave.
• —Pro: no back-to-back 24s; every shift is followed by at least one day off.
• —Pro: the same 56-hour average as 24/48, so pay is unchanged when a department switches.
• —Con: three 24s in five days is a demanding block, especially at busy stations.
• —Con: shift days walk through the week by two days per cycle, so weekends are unpredictable.
• —Con: the term means different things in different departments; confirm the exact rotation.

FAQ