Air Traffic Control Fully Certified
Air Traffic Control Time Certified In Pos 1 (yrs) 5
Fatigue; Situational Awareness; Workload
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Other / Unknown
General None Reported / Taken
Human Factors; Environment - Non Weather Related; Company Policy; Staffing
The Supervisor noticed that the controller working Sector 36's shift ended. He immediately informed me; the controller working Sector 27; that he intended to combine Sectors 36 and 27 and I would be working both sectors combined. I did my part to combine the sectors and relieved the R36 controller. I then proceeded to work the two sectors overloaded for about 25 minutes. The sectors had a combined 25 aircraft in them during one 15 minute period when the maximum MAP value for that combination is 15 aircraft. The Supervisor's hasty decision to combine the sectors to avoid having to pay holdover overtime to a controller led to a potentially unsafe situation.The Supervisor should have anticipated when the R36 controller's shift ended and found a way to relieve him that didn't involve heavily overloading the combined sectors. He could have paged a different controller to relieve that controller or opted to use holdover overtime to keep a controller past the end of his shift. Instead; he chose the least safe option; and overloaded two combined sectors. This is a standard practice in this area and is especially common with this particular supervisor. When I asked him about his reasoning; he informed me that he was too busy with administrative paperwork and his emails to monitor the operation closely. This is also a safety issue; as the Supervisor's primary duty is to manage the operation effectively. The Supervisor should receive skill enhancement training in his duty priorities as well as properly managing controller workload.
ZDC Center Controller reported sectors were combined as a shifted ended causing the sector to be overloaded above the designated traffic limit for that airspace.