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Pay for Weekends On Call
Benefits & Compensation
Pay for Weekends On Call
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I work for a small company in southern NY with 5 employees who work in a call center environment. They are required to alternate weekendd of being on-call, where they are not in the office and can do
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Forums » Topic Forums » Benefits & Compensation » Pay for Weekends On Call
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Pay for Weekends On Call
posted at 5/19/2010 9:41 AM EDT
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Posts: 14
First: 10/16/2009 Last: 6/21/2010 |
I work for a small company in southern NY with 5 employees who work in a call center environment. They are required to alternate weekendd of being on-call, where they are not in the office and can do what they please, but they have their company cell phone with them and have to respond to tech support issues that arise (if any).
Due to some of their other job responsibilities and the specialized work they perform, these are salaried positions. We had been giving them 4 hours of Paid Time Off for each weekend they are on call, regardless of how much work they do. One has requested that they get paid instead of getting the extra time. Do you see any legal issues with giving the employees the option of either getting paid a lump sum for each weekend on call, or accuring additional Paid Time Off hours? |
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Pay for Weekends On Call
posted at 5/19/2010 2:41 PM EDT
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Posts: 562
First: 11/12/2009 Last: 9/14/2011 |
A bunch of problems.
You absolutely need to evaluate these jobs against FLSA standards for exempt and non-exempt classification. Just because they do specialized tasks doesn't make them salaried. Based on what I know of call center operations, I'd be willing to bet that these are non-exempt employees. Which means that they are subject to whatever on-call pay provisions New York has. And they have to be paid for whatever work they perform on the weekends (which would probably put them over 40 for the week and subject to overtime rules). This would be a very good time to quietly re-evaluate these positions. Feel free to post job responsibilities of these people and get opinions on their FLSA status. If they're really non-exempt, just tell everyone that the company has decided to pay on-call pay and OT for hours worked over 40. They'll think you're wonderful and hopefully won't look at past hours worked on weekends. If they're really exempt, then it's expected that exempt employees normally put in more than 40 hours in a work week. It's part of what they're paid for. If you want to give them something for it, fine but you'd be under no obligation to do so and I would not tie it to any pro quid pro formula (that can bite you in any wage and hour claims action). |
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Pay for Weekends On Call
posted at 6/2/2010 12:09 PM EDT
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Posts: 8
First: 3/15/2005 Last: 9/28/2010 |
Agree with NORK, lots of problems. Take Nork's advise. Red flags - one big one is you are offering comp in terms of 'hours', which is not what you would offer anyone who is truly exempt. Don't use 'hours' for true exempt employees. My guess matches Nork, they are most likely not exempt. |
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Pay for Weekends On Call
posted at 6/2/2010 1:43 PM EDT
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Posts: 1
First: 6/2/2010 Last: 6/2/2010 |
I agree with NORK and Deb. Aside from the legal issues, you may encounter several administrative issues like tracking and reconciling paid-time off and tracking schedule swaps among your employees, among others. NORK is right about the timing for implementing the change. Doing it now will result in a win-win solution. |
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