Narrative:

Our off-duty time/release was listed at the original off-duty time and was not corrected when we landed later than scheduled. Upon the conclusion of our duty; I sent a message to dispatch asking them to correct the time. Dispatch responded by updating it to only 30 minutes off-duty from block-in. I responded explaining that we required the full hour shutdown; were not given prior notice and that as the duty-end time had already passed by; that I could not undo the work already done. They would need to change it. They responded to my message quoting an incorrect fom policy which allowed them to make the off-duty time 30 minutes. They were actually prepared to duty us off in violation of the regulations simply to meet their needs and in spite of my objections informing them the work was already done. I contacted the [dispatch]. The matter was resolved one hour and twenty minutes after my off-duty time. Therefore I voluntarily rested for 8.5 hours in violation of the regulations instead of having the rest time reset to provide the required 10 hours. We were approximately 20 minutes behind schedule when we landed. Upon arrival we cleared customs who showed up with two customs cars and conducted a more than thorough search of our passengers/baggage. Then clean; restock; lav and fuel. This took the full hour that was planned. We continually caution that turns requiring customs clearance should be given more time. As in almost every case; this flight was not given the additional time. So we were twenty minutes behind on our departure. Because our proposed time of arrival of the current leg was right at 13 hours and followed by minimum rest for a live leg the following morning; I sent an email to dispatch during the 1.5 hour flight advising them of the delay and the reasons for it. That email went unanswered. When we landed; the off-duty time was not corrected. When I queried them to correct it I was informed that they were going to give me 30 minutes instead of 60 per the fom so that they could meet the scheduled live leg after minimum rest. Even though I sent the...notice of our delay with sufficient time to inform the owners of the delay in their flight time the following morning; our operations center was willing to change their records in order to reflect what they falsely believed was a correct time to meet the regulations after the fact. This is extremely concerning as it is an attempt to adjust the books so that the records reflect something legal when in fact it violates the most coveted rest requirements. It wasn't an innocent mistake. I informed them the work was done and they still wanted to do it. They only corrected it after they were instructed to do so by the [duty manager]. I contacted the [dispatch] who informed me that the section of the fom that was quoted and being used by [operations] was a typographical error discovered only two days prior to this event. Apparently [operations] had not been informed of the error and was using the section to illegally adjust duty times. After his call to [operations]; the duty time of myself and my co-pilot was adjusted to the correct time.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: Embraer Legacy 550 Captain reported that his company operations attempted to alter his crew's off-duty time in order to meet flight schedule requirements. The Flight Operations Manual justification that the company was using was found to be in error.

Narrative: Our off-duty time/release was listed at the original off-duty time and was not corrected when we landed later than scheduled. Upon the conclusion of our duty; I sent a message to Dispatch asking them to correct the time. Dispatch responded by updating it to only 30 minutes off-duty from block-in. I responded explaining that we required the full hour shutdown; were not given prior notice and that as the duty-end time had already passed by; that I could not undo the work already done. They would need to change it. They responded to my message quoting an incorrect FOM policy which allowed them to make the off-duty time 30 minutes. They were actually prepared to duty us off in violation of the Regulations simply to meet their needs and in spite of my objections informing them the work was already done. I contacted the [dispatch]. The matter was resolved one hour and twenty minutes after my off-duty time. Therefore I voluntarily rested for 8.5 hours in violation of the regulations instead of having the rest time reset to provide the required 10 hours. We were approximately 20 minutes behind schedule when we landed. Upon arrival we cleared customs who showed up with two customs cars and conducted a more than thorough search of our passengers/baggage. Then clean; restock; lav and fuel. This took the full hour that was planned. We continually caution that turns requiring customs clearance should be given more time. As in almost every case; this flight was not given the additional time. So we were twenty minutes behind on our departure. Because our proposed time of arrival of the current leg was right at 13 hours and followed by minimum rest for a live leg the following morning; I sent an email to dispatch during the 1.5 hour flight advising them of the delay and the reasons for it. That email went unanswered. When we landed; the off-duty time was not corrected. When I queried them to correct it I was informed that they were going to give me 30 minutes instead of 60 per the FOM so that they could meet the scheduled live leg after minimum rest. Even though I sent the...notice of our delay with sufficient time to inform the owners of the delay in their flight time the following morning; our operations center was willing to change their records in order to reflect what they falsely believed was a correct time to meet the regulations after the fact. This is extremely concerning as it is an attempt to adjust the books so that the records reflect something legal when in fact it violates the most coveted rest requirements. It wasn't an innocent mistake. I informed them the work was done and they still wanted to do it. They only corrected it AFTER they were instructed to do so by the [Duty Manager]. I contacted the [dispatch] who informed me that the section of the FOM that was quoted and being used by [Operations] was a typographical error discovered only two days prior to this event. Apparently [Operations] had not been informed of the error and was using the section to illegally adjust duty times. After his call to [Operations]; the duty time of myself and my co-pilot was adjusted to the correct time.

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.