Narrative:

[I] reported early morning for the last day of 3-day trip. Before my last leg home; I was pulled from my flight and told to call scheduling. Upon calling scheduling to find out what was happening; I was informed that I had additional flying added to my day. Initially; upon hearing that my release time was in the evening; I told scheduling I couldn't work that late because I needed to get home and help care for my mom. I was marked down as sick and called and left a message for inflight supervisor. Today; when I was pre-writing another 'fatigue' report; I realized that the flying that was added to my day was illegal. Three legs were added to my day; which would have resulted in a duty day of 15 hours and 27 minutes. I am forced to use sick days when I cannot or I'm unable to fly the legs scheduling assigns to me. When I use more than 12 sick days in a 12 month period; I can be put on disciplinary action and potentially loose my job. With scheduling abusing the scheduling system; I have now used two sick days in two weeks. At this rate; I will be out of a job in just a few months. This is wrong!the company is routinely scheduling flight attendants almost to their maximum with 12 and 12.5 hour duty days and 9-10 hour rests. Flight attendants are calling in sick and scheduling is frantically trying to fill the slots with the reserve flight attendants it has available; even if it means flying us beyond our physical well-being; as well as the safety of the passengers. The FAA needs to change the regulations governing duty hours of flight attendants. The company can use 'irregular operations' every day; any time of day. Until the government changes the regulations; the company will continue to work us to the maximum; even if the maximum is not healthy or safe. The union contract cannot negotiate for better work conditions when the government says 14 hour duty days are ok and 8-10 hour rests are ok. Also; these short rests do not take into consideration that our rest starts when we leave the aircraft and ends when we report back to the aircraft. Rest should begin when we get to the hotel and when we leave the hotel. With the current system; if you allow 20 minutes to hotel; 20 minutes in morning back to airport; as well as time for meals and showering (1.5 hours); there is not much time for sleep.....only 6-8 hours. That is not much rest; especially when you have another 12-14 hour duty day ahead of you.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Commuter Flight Attendant describes revised schedule that would have resulted in an over than 15 hour duty day. Reporter is assigned a sick day after declining the assignment due to fatigue.

Narrative: [I] reported early morning for the last day of 3-day trip. Before my last leg home; I was pulled from my flight and told to call Scheduling. Upon calling Scheduling to find out what was happening; I was informed that I had additional flying added to my day. Initially; upon hearing that my release time was in the evening; I told Scheduling I couldn't work that late because I needed to get home and help care for my mom. I was marked down as sick and called and left a message for Inflight Supervisor. Today; when I was pre-writing another 'fatigue' report; I realized that the flying that was added to my day was illegal. Three legs were added to my day; which would have resulted in a duty day of 15 hours and 27 minutes. I am forced to use sick days when I cannot or I'm unable to fly the legs Scheduling assigns to me. When I use more than 12 sick days in a 12 month period; I can be put on disciplinary action and potentially loose my job. With Scheduling abusing the scheduling system; I have now used two sick days in two weeks. At this rate; I will be out of a job in just a few months. This is wrong!The company is routinely scheduling flight attendants almost to their maximum with 12 and 12.5 hour duty days and 9-10 hour rests. Flight attendants are calling in sick and Scheduling is frantically trying to fill the slots with the reserve flight attendants it has available; even if it means flying us beyond our physical well-being; as well as the safety of the passengers. The FAA needs to change the regulations governing duty hours of flight attendants. The company can use 'irregular operations' every day; any time of day. Until the government changes the regulations; the company will continue to work us to the maximum; even if the maximum is not healthy or safe. The union contract cannot negotiate for better work conditions when the government says 14 hour duty days are ok and 8-10 hour rests are ok. Also; these short rests DO NOT take into consideration that our rest starts when we leave the aircraft and ends when we report back to the aircraft. Rest should begin when we get to the hotel and when we leave the hotel. With the current system; if you allow 20 minutes to hotel; 20 minutes in morning back to airport; as well as time for meals and showering (1.5 hours); there is not much time for sleep.....only 6-8 hours. That is not much rest; especially when you have another 12-14 hour duty day ahead of you.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site as of April 2012 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.