Utah correctional officers required to work mandatory overtime to compensate for short-staffing

SALT LAKE CITY — Utah's Department of Corrections is now asking all of its correctional officers to work mandatory overtime to cope with short-staffing.

Richard Piatt, the department's director of public affairs, said there are currently 57 vacancies at the facilities in Salt Lake City and 12 at the Central Utah Correctional Facility that they need to fill to be fully staffed. Until then, correctional officers are being required to work one mandatory overtime shift per pay period.

Piatt said part of the reason for all the vacancies is because as the prison population grows, they have had to open up and staff a new section of the prison. However, it also comes at a time when they are dealing with some specific staffing issues.

"We do have officers who are on military leave; some people are on FMLA," Piatt explained. "We have people this time of year who are calling in sick. So we are doing this just to ensure we are fully staffed and safe."

Piatt said the mandatory overtime is just a temporary solution as they wait for new recruits. Three classes are set to graduate from their training academy by the end of the year.

"We just need the mandatory overtime as a temporary bridge measure in order to allow us to continue fully staffing the facilities while that process continues," Piatt said.

When asked if there were complaints from correctional officers required to work overtime, Piatt said he had not heard of any pushback. He believes it's because they all understand how essential it is to fill these gaps.

"The important thing is that the facilities are fully staffed and safety is maintained over there," Piatt said. "I think that's priority one for all of us and all of the people who work there."