As a demonstration of the FAA’s zero tolerance policy, the seven controllers who were suspended were the seven caught sleeping during their shifts.
The FAA is adding an hour of down time between shifts, hoping that hour will make a difference. A bit of magic thinking there. The FAA doesn’t even allow napping during break time.
Rather than pay for naps or schedule unpaid naps, the FAA has rejected the possibility of controlled on the job napping, which is the solution offered by other countries like Germany and Japan which provide rooms for that purpose.
Yet how many exhausted controllers have made bad decisions based on being sleep deprived? According to research, US air traffic controllers get average 2.3 hours sleep before their overnight shifts.