On Call Pay for Hourly Employees

Hourly employees can be eligible for on call pay in certain situations. The Fair Labor Standards Act (FSLA) ensures that employees are paid for hours worked.

Employers who violate the FLSA laws can be held liable for unpaid wages or unpaid overtime compensation. The employer also might need to pay a penalty of the same amount it underpaid the employee.

Some states add more teeth to the FLSA laws by instituting their own laws as well. California is known for its strict enforcement procedures and penalties.

On Call Pay

Sometimes, hourly employees are required to be on call for a certain number of hours in addition to their work day. On call pay may or may not qualify as time requiring payment.

On call scheduling is not uncommon in the restaurant business. A server might be placed on call on certain days the manager believes might become too busy for the regularly scheduled employees to handle.

If the employee is subject to on call shifts during off-work hours, the rules are different. If an employee is expected to use physical or mental energy for the sake of the employer, then that is work time and the employee is entitled to on call pay.

On call pay is necessary if an employee “is required to remain on call on the employer’s premises or so close thereto that he cannot use the time effectively for his own purposes,” according to the Department of Labor Wage and Hour Division.

On the flip side, an employee ”merely required to leave word at his home or with company officials where he can be reached” after his regular shift is not due any payment for his on-call time.

Determining On Call Shifts

California has its own Department of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE), which has used federal laws to inspire its determination of compensable on call shifts.

Interestingly, the DLSE doesn’t consider any agreements made between the employer and the employee. Instead, the determination is based upon the control an employer has over the employee.

An employee could be entitled to on call pay for on call scheduling if the employee is unable to pursue private activities during the shift. If an employee has the choice of being available or not by a request to return to work for an emergency would not be eligible for payment because the employee would be able to exercise control over the situation.

On Call Pay Situations

Employees should be paid for the time they spend waiting to perform work. For instance, a firefighter watching TV at the firehouse is waiting for the fire alarm to alert him to spring into action, so he should be paid for that time.

If a plumber is waiting for a customer to remove items from under a sink so he can get to a leak, that plumber is still working because he is unable to use that time for his own purposes.

If an employee is required to report to work at a certain time, but told not to clock in until hours later, the employer is violating the FSLA. The time the employee was on call prior to his shift was time that he was unable to pursue his own interests because he was required to be on the employer’s premises.

In recent years, the federal government has audited more employers to make sure employees are being paid fairly and for on call time when it is due.

A large number of class action lawsuits over violations of wage and hour laws have enabled workers who have been underpaid receive compensation.