Narrative:

I returned from break and the supervisor asked me to come back; 'ten after.' I was told to inform the only other controller on break who was due back shortly of the same request. The two of us returned to the area to relieve other coworkers whose shifts ended at ax:30 local. There were three sectors open at the time. One of the sectors consisted of four total sectors combined already. I signed onto position at one sector and [another] controller at the other combined sector. The third controller who was signed into a sector was due to go home at roughly xa:40 local. It was during this time that the supervisor ordered me to take control of their sector also. I noticed the aircraft list populating with more and more aircraft as a sign that the sector would soon become busy. I soon began to feel uncomfortable with the situation yet there was no one available to either sit on the handoff side or split a sector off. The other controller was busy with departures as well as overflights. There was now no room for error seeing as we were both on our own with no relief until the midnight shifts arrived. The supervisor was well aware of the coming situation. There was no effort made to request overtime and or hold anyone over for overtime to provide any relief. Despite the requests by the workforce to alleviate the understaffing problem; the supervisor refused to assist their workers and provide us with the help needed to safely work the traffic. Management needs to take seriously requests made by controllers to adequately staff and support the various sectors. A fear or aversion to doing the paperwork is not enough reason to leave an area understaffed. Furthermore saving a couple hours of overtime while controllers are struggling to keep the airspace safe and orderly is not a legitimate reason either.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A ZBW Center Controller reported they were forced to work several sectors combined during a busy period because the Supervisor would not assign an overtime shift.

Narrative: I returned from break and the supervisor asked me to come back; 'ten after.' I was told to inform the only other controller on break who was due back shortly of the same request. The two of us returned to the area to relieve other coworkers whose shifts ended at AX:30 local. There were three sectors open at the time. One of the sectors consisted of four total sectors combined already. I signed onto position at one sector and [another] controller at the other combined sector. The third controller who was signed into a sector was due to go home at roughly XA:40 local. It was during this time that the supervisor ordered me to take control of their sector also. I noticed the aircraft list populating with more and more aircraft as a sign that the sector would soon become busy. I soon began to feel uncomfortable with the situation yet there was no one available to either sit on the Handoff side or split a sector off. The other controller was busy with departures as well as overflights. There was now no room for error seeing as we were both on our own with no relief until the midnight shifts arrived. The supervisor was well aware of the coming situation. There was no effort made to request overtime and or hold anyone over for overtime to provide any relief. Despite the requests by the workforce to alleviate the understaffing problem; the supervisor refused to assist their workers and provide us with the help needed to safely work the traffic. Management needs to take seriously requests made by controllers to adequately staff and support the various sectors. A fear or aversion to doing the paperwork is not enough reason to leave an area understaffed. Furthermore saving a couple hours of overtime while controllers are struggling to keep the airspace safe and orderly is not a legitimate reason either.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.