Total Articles: 4
Quick Quiz: "On Call" Time Under The FLSA
Alan is a Help Desk Associate for The Big Corporation. He is subject to the federal Fair Labor Standards Act's minimum-wage, overtime, and timekeeping requirements.
Compensability Of On-Call Time
Work in the healthcare industry is unpredictable, and patient care is provided 24 hours a day, seven days a week. Ceiling leaks, staff illnesses, and patient emergencies can't be contained to the normal day-time work hours. As a result, many employers have on-call policies and procedures that allow them to effectively respond to off-hours demands.
Those "Bleeping" Beepers: On-Call Disputes Creating More Litigation Dangers.
Blackberries, cell phones and pagers – are they a source of freedom and flexibility or are they just too darned restrictive? The question is not just a philosophical one. From a practical standpoint, many employers are learning that the wrong answer could be costly.
On-Call Hours Must Be Attributed to Week in Which Hours Occurred for Purpose of Overtime Pay.
The Fair Labor Standards Act requires that overtime compensation be paid at a rate of not less than one-and-a-half times the regular rate of pay of all hours worked in excess of 40 during a particular workweek. Recently, the Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division responded to a request for an opinion on whether compensation for “on-call” time in a specific week may be averaged over a two week pay period for purposes of computing the regular rate of pay on which employees’ overtime wages were based during the entire pay period. In response, the DOL informed the employer that an employee’s regular rate of pay must be computed on a workweek basis, and that payment for on-call time must be attributed to the specific workweek that included the on-call assignment. Wage and Hour Opinion Letter, FLSA 2008-6, 9/22/08 (released 11/14/08).
