On call work

unclejoe89

I work 40 hours a week, and then I have to work 24/7 unpaid on call, which means I could be called back into work anytime for an emergency...

Should I be paid for this on call work...
I can't find legislation that's says I do...?

eurokev

I know of a few people working in the maintainence industry who work on call and get a standby payment of usually 12hrs and are then paid more differing amounts in each case if called

Irish_Elect_Eng

That would not be normal.

You cannot be on call 24/7 with an immediate response time, that is not a reasonable expectation, irrespective of payment or not.

Give us some more details.

Monthly Salary or Hourly Wage?
Does your basic wage take into account being on call, is it higher than people in a similar position that are not on call?
Can you work remotely or is it call into an office/factory?

It would be more normal to have:

• A "On call premium" + Hourly 1.5 x OT Call In Rate,
• or No Premium and a Higher 2/3 x OT Call In Rate
• Or a Flat rate "Call out" Payment

Unless the call-outs are very rare and then it may just fall under reasonable overtime clause of a monthly salaried employee. (But there would have to be reasonable expectations of your availability, not true 24/7)

Nody

Legally there is nothing covering if you should be paid anything for being on call; it is common practice to get paid in some form (i.e. time actually working etc.).

kevohmsford

I work in maintenance and we get paid for on call standby then another rate for call out. No way would I do it for nothing.

_Brian

When I started in maintenance from college I did it for nothing, was just in the contract and I needed a start, but that was early 90's and good experience was hard got.
Every third week was on call evenings and all weekend. Typically out on maybe 4/6 calls each week.

unclejoe89

Irish_Elect_Eng wrote: »

That would not be normal.

You cannot be on call 24/7 with an immediate response time, that is not a reasonable expectation, irrespective of payment or not.

Give us some more details.

Monthly Salary or Hourly Wage?
Does your basic wage take into account being on call, is it higher than people in a similar position that are not on call?
Can you work remotely or is it call into an office/factory?

It would be more normal to have:

• A "On call premium" + Hourly 1.5 x OT Call In Rate,
• or No Premium and a Higher 2/3 x OT Call In Rate
• Or a Flat rate "Call out" Payment

Unless the call-outs are very rare and then it may just fall under reasonable overtime clause of a monthly salaried employee. (But there would have to be reasonable expectations of your availability, not true 24/7)

I'm on call every second week, so basically 26 weeks of the year, although a call in to the plant would be very rare, maybe 7-8 times a year, I have to be available, which mean every weekend I have to stay in a reasonable distance from the plant.(maybe 1 hours away)


I'm on a monthly salary but my contract doesn't mention on-call arrangements.


Could this actually fall under overtime?

livedadream

Hi,

So without knowing all the info ofyour contract, this is what I can advise

The working time act states (i'm clearly paraphrasing here just so everyone know):

An employer can hire employees to be available to work, but where they are not called to work the employee will receive compensation as follows;

If you are required to be available for work at any time and are not actually called, you must be paid for 25% of that time.

If you are required to be available between 1 and 5 pm (4 hours) but are not called you must be paid for 4 hours.

If you are required to work less than 25 per cent of the hours for which you have been asked to be available, you must be compensated for the difference between the hours actually worked and 25 per cent of the time you have been asked to be available. eg: if you have been asked to be available for 40 hours but only actually work for 8 hours [20 per cent of available hours], then you will be compensated for the difference between 10 hours [25 per cent of 40] and 8 hours [hours actually worked] which is 2 hours.

Compensation is not payable, however, when an employee is paid for making themselves available for work - such as call out, stand-by or fall-back allowance .

Hope this helps.

TheDoc

unclejoe89 wrote: »

I work 40 hours a week, and then I have to work 24/7 unpaid on call, which means I could be called back into work anytime for an emergency...

Should I be paid for this on call work...
I can't find legislation that's says I do...?

Thats total nonsense.(not being paid for oncall, not you)

Oncall rates are a thing. Granted they can vary company to company, its not a new practice. And you cant be 24/7 on call with no payments. On Call means that you are tailoring your private life to make yourself available for emergencies. There is no balance there

Have a chat with your line manager about sorting oncall rates out, or you will stop doing them. There are many different types of oncall rates and agreements depending on the company.

I don't do it anymore, but when I did mine broke down like this

- €50 flat rate for oncall support from 10pm - 6am
- €100 if an issue resulted in 60 minutes work from oncall
- €100 for every additional hour after the first 60
- Day in lieu provided for any oncall work going over 60 minutes on a Saturday or Sunday.

Now granted the work I did was chargeable to clients as part of a monthly maintenance invoice, that is what I was getting. We have a department here that run oncall and they have a different arrangement.

When I started here I asked specifically about oncall and they advised there was nothing so I took that as meaning I was not required to perform out of hours support.

Of course it eventually happened on a Saturday when our warehouse system went down, but on the Monday I'd an amicable conversation with my manager to arrange oncall rates. Decision came from on high that they wouldn't agree to on call payments, so I stated that means there is no out of hours support. And we moved on perfectly fine and happy since.

A lack of oncall payments is genuinely shocking to hear in 2016. So get that sorted. And ensure you get a flat fee if they want you 24/7. Again, on call means you are tailoring your private life to be available emergencies. so unless there is strict SLA's(considering you have no oncall payment, I doubt there is response timings) I'd be looking for a flat rate per day of oncall support.

JEsus its crazy what companies can still get away with in this day and age

Atlantic Dawn

Are your work hours mentioned within your contract?

LegacyUser

Hi I am a retained fire fighter I am on call 24/7 for 48 weeks of the year, the other 4 weeks are for holidays,I must live and work with in 2.5 kilometres from my fire station,and be available 24/7 which I find is grossly unfair on me and my family,and restricts me seriously in my family life and my social life,I have no work life balance,and I feel that this method of operating is totally unrealistic and unsustainable, I feel that my employer is in breach of the working time act, could you give me your opinion on this please! ?????