My employer puts its hourly people on call after hours and doesn't really have a set policy on how after hours call outs should be handled. So far so good right? But the problem is there no ploicy or rules but people are getting written up for not responding in a timely manner. We are all hourly paid employees. The expectation is that we call back within 20 min and be at the store as quickly as possible. To do this I have to be within cell phone range and be near a computer with internet access so you are basically stuck at home for the weekend, we can't use our time as we wish. I think there is no policy so they can get away with how they compensate us, we get $1.25 added to our wages for the 40 hour work week but nothing for when we are a actually on call. We get 2 hours of pay if we get a customer to come in and buy something but zero pay if they just call fishing for information which happens more often than not. My sister in law is a nurse and she get $5.00 an hour for every hour she is on call no matter if she has to answer the phone.

So the way the call out service works is that if I don't answer the phone within 10 minutes they try back again and if no answer they call a manager or another employee whoever they can get to pick up. If that happens you have a problem.

Can an employer really restrict your time like this and not pay you for your time? I'm basically paid if you break down the 40 hours x $1.25 = $50 figure in we are on call 118 hours a week and that's like $0.43 an hour

We have brought this up to two different managers, both of which are good guys and we're on our side and in both situations our HR department blew them off. Our company keeps cutting hours of operation and now we are open basically bankers hours and when we ask upper management who will take care of the customer they say the on call people can do it.

I was thinking of taking this the BOLI and just let the state deal with the company but I want to know the company is doing something wrong before I stir up a bunch of shit.

quote:

Originally posted by Tavman:
https://www.shrm.org/resources...ages/cms_020208.aspx

The site you provided a link to requires a membership to access. Don't think this helps the OP much at all.

quote:

Originally posted by Tavman:
https://www.shrm.org/resources...ages/cms_020208.aspx

Goes to a login page.

The US Department of Labor has a website that may give some insight into the situation:

https://webapps.dol.gov/elaws/...orked/screenEr80.asp

Your description sounds like they are restricting you, but as the site says, each case is different.

And you may have a state law that is applicable as well.

Maybe something in this State site. Not sure if it's recent or applies to your situation.

http://lni.wa.gov/WorkplaceRig...eq/Wages/default.asp

On-call pay

Is a worker entitled to "on-call pay" if the business requires workers to be available to a phone, if needed, to return to work on an emergency basis?

Generally on-call pay does not have to be paid unless the worker is actually called back or receives a phone call at home that will fix the problem, which would be considered hours worked.

My last job was working for an insurance restoration company. Lots of after hours stuff. We were split into six teams and each week a different team was on call. Had to be reachable by phone at all times and pretty much couldn't drink as we may have to leave at any time. Never got any extra pay unless we actually went out to a job.

KShooter
I once worked for a utility locating company that did pretty much the same thing. That company found out the hard way that if you are on call you must be compensated. A local city had the same problem. Both of them payed millions in compensation. Dean

What is "on call?" Generally and loosely, if you have to sit by your phone and can't leave it to go about your business, you have to be paid for however long you had to sit. If you are just supposed to listen for the phone in case there is any work, you only get paid for whatever work, if any, you did.

Situations similar to yours have been discussed on this website... www.laborlawtalk.com

I gather you do not belong to a union. Unions have lots of rules about this sort of thing. It generally comes down to state and federal regulations, regarding compensation. Many states are right to work, meaning the company can fire you for no reason. It is wise to see what state and federal regulations apply before you complain.

quote:

Many states are right to work, meaning the company can fire you for no reason.

That's "at-will." "Right to work" means you can't be forced to join a union as a condition of obtaining or keeping employment.

https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs22.pdf

FLSA is what we used in our union to get paid for required "on call". I would talk to a labor lawyer to assist you. It is a negotiated pay for every hour on call. 1/6 hour pay for every hour on call for us right now.

Good Luck

That's "at-will." "Right to work" means you can't be forced to join a union as a condition of obtaining or keeping employment.

Thanks for the clarification.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by bearstarr:
https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs22.pdf

FLSA is what we used in our union to get paid for required "on call". I would talk to a labor lawyer to assist you. It is a negotiated pay for every hour on call. 1/6 hour pay for every hour on call for us right now.

Good Luck[/QUOTE

Thanks for the link. I guess the deciding factor is if we are engaged to wait or waiting to be engaged. I would lean towards engaged to wait, the company wants us in range of the shop, in cell phone range and able to respond right away. I can't use my days off to go paddle my kayak, go for a hike, or even mow my lawn because I couldn't hear the phone ring. Think you want a beer no way, it's against company policy to be at the building less than 3 hours after one beer. It's also illegal to drive, so I couldn't get there is I wanted to.

quote:

Originally posted by lunchbox:
[QUOTE]Originally posted by bearstarr:
https://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs22.pdf

FLSA is what we used in our union to get paid for required "on call". I would talk to a labor lawyer to assist you. It is a negotiated pay for every hour on call. 1/6 hour pay for every hour on call for us right now.

Good Luck[/QUOTE

Thanks for the link. I guess the deciding factor is if we are engaged to wait or waiting to be engaged. I would lean towards engaged to wait, the company wants us in range of the shop, in cell phone range and able to respond right away. I can't use my days off to go paddle my kayak, go for a hike, or even mow my lawn because I couldn't hear the phone ring. Think you want a beer no way, it's against company policy to be at the building less than 3 hours after one beer. It's also illegal to drive, so I couldn't get there is I wanted to.

The police department I work for does this. Every detective unit in the organization, and there are probably 20+ units, has an on-call rotation. For which they are not paid unless they are called in. We are also not paid for trial stand-bys. For either we have to be available for an immediate response, no alcohol, etc.

My prior agency paid for both.

Did the "on call" deal for over twenty years on the Hwy Patrol. Not a dime in extra pay. They got away with it as they were very upfront when a new employee was hired. They explained it in detail. Don't care for it? Don't hire on.

We did get a minimum of two hours OT if called out and home in under two hours.

The on call stuff gets old. I always answered my phone and responded quickly when called. Many guys dragged their feet and padded the hours to get extra OT. I never did.

Situations vary, but I'll share my humble experience with this issue. Some time after retiring from a large department, I went to work with a much smaller one. If on call for the large Dept., activities restricted,i.e., no alcohol, can't travel too far, specified response time, etc, we got paid X amount per hour for it. We also got paid if we were off-duty and got called by the Dept. about a work related matter. With the smaller dept, it was unwritten, but expected, that you would wear your pager 24/7 and respond immediately if called out, unless you were out of town on vacation,etc. A violation of FLSA that the Chief undoubtedly knew about, but ignored before I came to work there. In debriefing a big deal incident, the Chief was unhappy that I and one other off-duty officer had not responded. The other officer nervously explained to the Chief that he was having trouble with his pager. The Chief was obviously unhappy, and told him rather angrily to get it fixed right away. I was sitting near the Chief and told him I turned my pager off when I went off-duty. He fumed, but didn't say a word, then or later. Seems that not that long afterwards, officers started getting paid when required to be on call. Obviously, the town had saved Mega-thousands of dollars over the years by not paying personnel for on call time as required by FLSA. Very good in making the Chief look good to the Mayor, Council, Town Manager,etc, but not so good for the officers.....

Regardless of whatever the law may be, if I had your job, I wouldn't have your job. I'd be voting with my feet.

You know what they call the kind of employers who require this:

Crooked motherfuckers, that's what. Cheap, scheming, crooked motherfuckers.

Sad.

This is why we can't have nice things or a more libertarian society, because some cheap assed, crooked motherfucker, requires this sort of nonsense out of their employees. Even with our current system it still happens a lot. In an even free-er society those same cocks would have you sleeping next to your desk, chained to your job, and paid .01cents/hour.

Good luck.