quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
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.

Why not just got to work for a different employer that is not so cheap assed and crooked?

We used to get jack squat for being on call (salary, IT field in South Carolina) until someone complained somewhere and suddenly we were getting like $1.25 per hour when on call. I think it's up to $2.00 now.

When I was hourly, we used to get two hours time and a half if we had to actually come into work while on call, even for only 15 minutes of our time.

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
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.

Why not just got to work for a different employer that is not so cheap assed and crooked?

Exactly this. Nobody should be choosing to work for this cheap, crooked employer. That would be the free market fixing the problem: with crappy policies, this company should find it extremely difficult to attract employees, and said employer would need to go out of business, or improve working conditions such that people actually choose to work here.

Of course, when the economy stinks and they're among the only game in town, it becomes a more difficult prospect.

quote:

Originally posted by the_sandman_454:

quote:

Originally posted by Bytes:

quote:

Originally posted by 46and2:
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.

Why not just got to work for a different employer that is not so cheap assed and crooked?

Exactly this. Nobody should be choosing to work for this cheap, crooked employer. That would be the free market fixing the problem: with crappy policies, this company should find it extremely difficult to attract employees, and said employer would need to go out of business, or improve working conditions such that people actually choose to work here.

Of course, when the economy stinks and they're among the only game in town, it becomes a more difficult prospect.

The problem is that other than this on call issue my employer is pretty good. I get paid well, have excellent benefits and 5 weeks vacation a year. I've worked this job for almost 20 years and really don't want to leave but I would like to be compensated correctly for this one issue. It's a large company (global) and I don't think it's known on the corporate side how this is being handled. We have taken measures to see if the company will fix this at the corporate level, if not I guess we get the state involved.

quote:

Originally posted by lunchbox:
The problem is that other than this on call issue my employer is pretty good. I get paid well, have excellent benefits and 5 weeks vacation a year. I've worked this job for almost 20 years and really don't want to leave but I would like to be compensated correctly for this one issue. It's a large company (global) and I don't think it's known on the corporate side how this is being handled. We have taken measures to see if the company will fix this at the corporate level, if not I guess we get the state involved.

Overall this sounds like this is a pretty good company to work for. Has the "on call" duties been going on for 20 years or is this something that came up recently?

quote:

Why not just got to work for a different employer that is not so cheap assed and crooked?

I certainly would if it were affecting me.

It doesn't make that description any less accurate.

Taking people's time without giving them money is tantamount to theft, and disgusting.

I've only had to suffer it briefly over the years but it's bullshit just the same.

Though not everyone has the same flexibility and ability to quit, move, etc. I was lucky. No wife or kids to tether me to such absurd situations.

See where he's well paid and gets a rather large amount of vacation

He may not be compensated directly for the on call time but 5 weeks vacation for an hourly worker is pretty high

From Washington State Gov labor website

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

From their FAQ

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.


It looks like to me, Suck it up or find another job,

quote:

Originally posted by Aglifter:
See where he's well paid and gets a rather large amount of vacation

He may not be compensated directly for the on call time but 5 weeks vacation for an hourly worker is pretty high

Yeah, my thought is compensation just may not be direct.

IT work often has on-call rotations (I'm on one now, actually). It's almost always an up front statement, this is what the job entails, negotiate accordingly.

I know that when I'm on call I don't get any extra pay but if they call and I clock in its a minimum of 4 hours of pay.

I remember one time I was there long enough for them to effectively pay me $600/hr

How frequently are you on call? Once a month? Once a year??

While in training, I had call that varied between every night to every other night. I didn't get paid for call. That was 8 of the 14 years of training. After training, I had call anywhere from 10-15 days month, but since I also provided a unique service, I answered the phone when I was off call, and the only time I was truly off was when I left town on vacation or made specific arrangements to be unavailable (daughters weddings, wife graduating with her Master's, etc.) Even during those times, I'd sometimes get called. I never got paid for call, but if I rendered services while on call after training, I could bill for them, and depending on the patient, get paid. During that time, I also saw alot of charity patients and frequently didn't get paid from them. 25 years of that time, I was a physician in private practice. I was employed for another 6.

I also had the duty to be the front man to talk to other physicians coming out of training to do the recruiting. I was pretty honest about what call entails. Times have changed. The old guys (like me) expect it The young guys coming out of training expect to get paid taking call.

I took a page from the younger guys. I'm near retirement, and I'm now an independent contractor. I specified getting paid for call in any job I take. On weekdays, I get overtime when I walk in the door, and on weekends, my call pay consists of a regular days pay and overtime for anything more than 4 contact hours.

There's a catch though. Any employer, to be competitive has to offer something like this. My job is in demand. On average, I now get a job offer a day (one this week was in New Zealand).

Everybody's situation is different. Nobody's job is perfect (I know mine isn't). If the good outweighs the bad, you're gold. If not, you do what you can to change things and in the end, decide what to accept. Good luck.

Once a month. During the winter I don't mind but summer time in the PNW is only 3 months long. I hate missing out on outdoor activities because I'm on call and have to sit around the house. Also people getting written up for not responding quickly enough when no policy exists as to how long you have to respond is bull shit. I know if they wrote the policy in the employee manual they would have to pay us to be on call. We would be "engaged to wait".

By once a month do you mean one day a month? One weekend a month?

A suggestion. If you are on call "once a month", there must be others on call the rest of the month. Talk to them, and see what they think of being on call. Offer to trade more call on less desirable days for the days you want off, or put a price on things and offer to pay someone else to take your call.

I have an On-call rotation one week a month average for the year with my current employer. I work in an IT role and salaried. We get 1/2 day off for the week days and 1/2 day off for the weekend. Essentially a Friday off for the previous week On-call. If we know we could be out of the house for an extended period we can checkout a Hotspot so we can get connected.

Sometimes I would like to get paid instead of time off, but most times I like the day off.

-TVz

quote:

My prior agency paid for both.

Much depends on the employer. We had it in our contract. I was never subjected to it but the DB guys were. they received a annual or semi annual payment to cover it. If called out, then the standard OT applied. The payment was nothing great. But you didn't have to stay home but must be available within a certain time frame.

quote:

Originally posted by lunchbox:
Once a month. During the winter I don't mind but summer time in the PNW is only 3 months long. I hate missing out on outdoor activities because I'm on call and have to sit around the house.

Any chance of trading weeks with a co-worker that loves winter skiing?

As others have said, you really need to look at the total package. It's really easy to look at one company that pays for A, another that pays for B and a third that pays for C form a mythical composite and decide that "everyone else gets paid for A,B and C". That's rarely the case.

I'd also consider the work environment with regard to clocked hours. Is your employer timing bathroom breaks? On your case about taking a few minutes to check Sigforum at work? If they aren't that type and are generally pretty flexible, I'd be reluctant to raise a stink. It all evens out.

I'm on call 365 days a year and my boss is a real dick. I don't get paid a dime unless I get called out to work. Even then, sometimes I don't get paid.

I'm only familiar with on call work as far as the service industry is concerned. Most of the time the work is commission based. Instead of an hourly rate, you get a percentage of the work done. Compared to your typical hourly salary, it usually works out better financially.

quote:

Originally posted by Bobofbone:
A suggestion. If you are on call "once a month", there must be others on call the rest of the month. Talk to them, and see what they think of being on call. Offer to trade more call on less desirable days for the days you want off, or put a price on things and offer to pay someone else to take your call.

Everyone hates being on call. I've offered up $100 and had no takers.

I've done it for a long time, Almost 20 years. I've never liked it but never said much about it. I guess that part that pisses me off is when someone gets written up and threatened to be fired because they didn't preform a company duty while on their own time. As of right now if we get a call and the customer backs out after an hour on the phone we get paid nothing for our time spent working. Just Yesterday I got a callout and the guy backed out after about an hour, I got nothing but ruined dinner plans with my family. I could see if they were paying us $4 an hour to be on call then it would kind of be company time. When I'm on call I stay home and waste my weekend so I don't miss a callout but I'm worried I'll miss one somehow and pay the price.

It just doesn't seem right that a company can restrict your time like what's happening here and not compensate you. I can't use my time to do the things I want to do. If the law allows it then I guess I'll just shut up about it for another 20 years but if it doesn't I want paid.