Are you paying your employees while they're are on-call? If you're not, you might want to spruce up your labor law knowledge.
Your employees may be considered on-call if they have to stick close enough to the job in order to respond to your calls within a short time frame (10-15 minutes) for emergencies.
A Minnesota hospital was recently required to pay more than $77,000 in back wages for 21 emergency medical technicians who weren't paid for their on-call time. The Dept. of Labor said the hospital violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when they made the employees work more than 40 hours a week without properly compensating the employees in their payroll. The employees should have been paid for their on-call time, when they had to stay nearby and get to their ambulances within six minutes of a phone call.
The Fair Standards Labor Act requires an employee to be paid if any of these are true:
Your employee is unable to enjoy uninterrupted personal activities.
Your employee is required to remain on the employer's premises.
What if you require an employee to carry a cell phone in case an issue arises at work or merely check in with you while they're on vacation? That doesn't mean they're on-call.
Here's the last word on the subject. According to the Code of Federal Regulations, section 785.17, "an employee who 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 is working while "on call." An employee who is not required to remain in the employee's premises but is merely required to leave word at his home or with company officials where he may be reached is not working while on call."
To read more about overtime, payroll,and wage laws, check out the Department of Labor website.
Your employees may be considered on-call if they have to stick close enough to the job in order to respond to your calls within a short time frame (10-15 minutes) for emergencies.
A Minnesota hospital was recently required to pay more than $77,000 in back wages for 21 emergency medical technicians who weren't paid for their on-call time. The Dept. of Labor said the hospital violated the Fair Labor Standards Act when they made the employees work more than 40 hours a week without properly compensating the employees in their payroll. The employees should have been paid for their on-call time, when they had to stay nearby and get to their ambulances within six minutes of a phone call.
The Fair Standards Labor Act requires an employee to be paid if any of these are true:
Your employee is unable to enjoy uninterrupted personal activities.
Your employee is required to remain on the employer's premises.
What if you require an employee to carry a cell phone in case an issue arises at work or merely check in with you while they're on vacation? That doesn't mean they're on-call.
Here's the last word on the subject. According to the Code of Federal Regulations, section 785.17, "an employee who 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 is working while "on call." An employee who is not required to remain in the employee's premises but is merely required to leave word at his home or with company officials where he may be reached is not working while on call."
To read more about overtime, payroll,and wage laws, check out the Department of Labor website.
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