These people serve in times of natural disasters, social upheaval, epidemic diseases and even terrorism. Others work when businesses are under intense demand for output. Whatever the job or circumstance, compensating such a work force requires attention to detail. The United States Department of Labor publishes a precise description of on call employment.
Although not right on the premises, the worker has more restrictions on free time because of the geographical limitations. These considerations go right to the question of how does on call pay work. Another important distinction to make when determining the manner of on call pay is whether or not the employee is exempt or non-exempt, i.
Exceptions to this rule are law enforcement and corrections officers; hazardous materials clean-up crews; and first responders like paramedics and fire fighters. From the government definition, on call certainly restricts leisure. Confining employees at or near the workplace prevents them from most other pursuits. Does this not count, then, as time invested in the employer? This question goes to the notion of restricted vs. Obviously, if the employee must remain at the job site — e.
Yet other factors may foster restricted conditions, even if the employee is off-site. For example, the management may forbid the use of alcohol while on call. Cases like these pose restrictions as defined by the Fair Labor Standards Act. Employers and employees alike seek courts and mediators to interpret its provisions. You need to have the infrastructure in place to not only handle incoming demands from customers or patients, but to make the call and bring in extra work as soon as needed.
Having a human voice respond to customers at all hours of the night is a fantastic way to ensure that their voice is heard. Think about it. Your employer would expect you to be available by phone.
You essentially have to live your life as if you were about to head to work. Except you have to live like this at all times. That means no extensive travel that takes you too far away to respond, for example. From a management standpoint, simply let your answering service know who is on-call for the week. But being on-call for an entire week, especially if the number of urgent and emergency calls is high, can take its toll on the employee.
High demands placed on on-call personnel over a prolonged time can also have negative consequences on their job performance during working hours. As an alternative, businesses may opt to shorten the length of their on-call schedule by changing on-call employees each day.
This diminishes the negative impact on anyone person for being on-call for an extended time and shares it among multiple employees. To manage a daily on-call schedule, simply provide your answering service with assignments for the week or the month. The alternative is to let them know who is on-call each evening when you forward your phone to them.
Since the imposition of being on-call is more significant on the weekends than on weekdays, businesses often give special consideration to weekend on-call staff. Management of this type of schedule is easy. Some businesses with shift work also utilize on-call schedules, a common example of this is happening in retail, and call centers.
An employee may be on-call for 8 hours, or 12 hours. Generally these types on-call shifts are difficult to manage for both the business and employee as the need for checking in creates more work for everyone. Assign a primary on-call and a backup on-call for each day or week. With this method, the primary on-call receives all the urgent situations.
With this process, businesses often move on-call staff through a cycle. They start as primary on-call and then they move to back up for the next on-call window.
Another optional way to divide on-call responsibilities is by specialty or department. After you call workers in, there's no ambiguity. They're on the clock and entitled to pay, just like any other shift. The law in some states requires that however little they work, you must pay them for at least four hours. As on-call scheduling has spread from firefighters and surgeons to industries such as retail, it's become controversial. Retailers say having workers on call without pay is necessary to cut staffing costs.
Critics say not knowing their work schedule makes it impossible for salesclerks and stockers to plan for child care or to work a second job. Bills, legal cases and new regulations limiting on-call scheduling or setting minimum pay have popped up all over the country in recent years. For example, the Texas Supreme Court is considering a case brought by on-call workers, who argue that they should be paid for their time on-call, since they are unable to otherwise use their personal time.
Stay on top of any new legal developments in your area so you aren't blindsided by changes. Fraser Sherman has written about every aspect of business: how to start one, how to keep one in the black, the best business structure, the details of financial statements.
He's also run a couple of small businesses of his own.
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