On Call Compensation

[lineman442]

Looking for information on how other organizations compensate for being on call for after hours and weekends and holidays. We have never had a program but call outs usually fall on two of us who live in town (small muni).

[dbrown20]

Worked once where for ever 8 hrs or increment stood by you were compensated 1 hour of straight time pay. For any 8 hours or increment on a holiday you were given 2 hours of straight time pay.

For example on an ordinary weekend that would be 8 hrs straight time pay extra. On a 3 day holiday weekend it would be 14 hrs of straight time pay extra. Of course we received our regular ot pay for any callouts worked.

[loodvig]

Before they took 'on call' away from us I think we got $75. a week stand by pay. It was from Friday to Friday. Anytime we came in it was time and a half pay unless it was on Sunday which was all double time. All call ins were for a minimum of 3 hours pay. The reason we lost on call was a few guys would grab the $75. and never come in when called! A few azzholes spoiled it for the rest!

[lineman442]

Thanks guys, that will help. We have to give the younger guys incentive to step up. They feel that if they are not getting paid to stick around and be avialable, screw it. I can,t blame them I guess. After 18 yrs. for my self and 30 yrs. for my boss, it would be nice to go some where and not worry about trouble calls.

[thrasher]

Journeymen are "on-call" in rotation one week at a time. They get 8 hours overtime plus their calls ( 3 hour minimum). Company supplies a cell phone for call week and you take a service bucket home.

[PA BEN]

You can research On Call time in the Fair Labor Standards Act. There’s a lot of case law on the internet regarding On Call time and stand by time also. Just Google, Fair Labor Standards Act. Don’t give up your time off to the Utility cheap. When you are stuck to a pager you miss out on a lot of family time. Once you are paid to be on call you will have a certain amount of time to respond to the call. Trust me it’s not worth the extra money to be tied to that pager.:( At my old utility we were paid $1.25 an hr. for on call time. Just time and a half when called in with a 30 min. responce time. The on call time was from Tuesday through Tuesday in case of a 3 day weekend it wouldn't scerw the 3 day weekend for the guy comming on call. I did it for 22 years. Here at my new utility they use a call out list. Start at the top and work down. Lots more freedom.:D Your time should start when called no matter where you are when called in.

[CHICAGO HAND.]

we are suing the company right now for placing us on call without pay.
sept 10'th is the date for jury trial.

here is the sight the law firm put up for us.
http://www.exelonlinemen.com/

[Patriot]

We get one hour of pay for every eight hours of stand-by. Which works out to 8 hours of stand-by pay for a weekend, holidays are two hours of pay for every eight. 24 hour holiday, 6 hours of pay.

[Squizzy]

$45 (each day) for Monday to Friday $90 (each day) for Saturday and Sunday , minimum 4 hours call out time and half first 2 hours then double time Monday to Saturday Sunday straight double time. 10 hour break between shifts so if you finish at 3am you can't go back to 1pm and if that break goes over normal work hours you still get paid so you get paid from 7am to 1pm which is your break time...

[loadbreak55]

We get 16hrs. extra for a weeks standby,plus an xtra 4 if you get a holiday in there,2hr.minimum each call.Time and a half each call during the week,double time on Sunday's and holiday's.
And,of course,we take a small buckett truck home.There are alway's at least two guy's on call,each has a buckett truck,so we get every other call.

[PA BEN]

There is a difference between stand by time and on call time. Stand by time is when you have to stay at a certain place, by a phone or just can’t go anywhere because you might be need to respond to a call. I do believe there is a formula in the Fair Labor Standards Act for stand by time. On Call time is restrictive but not as restrictive as stand by time.

[duckhunter]

1 1/2 for any ovetime from 6 AM to midnight, double-time midnight to 6 AM. Standby pay is $20 for Monday-Thursday, $30 perday Friday-Sunday and contractural holidays. Mnimum 2 hours for any call. $6.00 for breakfast, $7.50 for lunch, $10.00 for dinner if you work four or more hours between 8 PM and 8 AM you are entitled to $7.50 for a late meal. You do not get paid to eat the meal if you are paid for the meal.

[lineman-up]

we receive 24 hours of overtime (36 straight time) for a week of standby. 4 hours extra for any days you take call and are not scheduled to work your shift during the weekdays. we have a two-hour minimum for call-ins at time and a half, with double time on holidays. not to bad for a small non-union utility

[doug]

We Get 8 Hrs. Straight Pay For All Week. Ot Is 1.5. And If You Work Over 16 Hrs. Goes To Dbl. Get 1/2 Hr Travel Time Both Ways.that Also Depends On When To Get Thru,if It Fall In Your Reg.day You Get Only 1/2 Hr At 1.5 Not The Whole Hr.

[BigClive]

The problem is that they guys in the office don't understand how restrictive being on call is. You have to stay near your truck and tools in case of a call and you can't go for a drink with your buddies either. Going for a long walk is not really possible unless you take the vehicle and walk within a radius of it!

Perhaps if the management were given the bucket truck to take home and the lineworker simply travelled in his own vehicle to rendez-vous with the management at the fault location it would give them a taste of how inconvenient it is.

[duckhunter]

We are on call for a week at a time, then about 4 weeks later we are the 3rd man for weekend call. The 3rd man gets paid the same stand-by pay as the other guys but seldom gets called. Then about 4 weeks later we are on again for a week. Linemen can trade their on-call with another qualified person. When extra help is needed, we go by the overtime list. If you refuse to go you are charged for the work for record keeping so that a person can't stay high on the list and only work the double-time.

As for our guys in the office not understanding, they are ex-linemen that were on call too. They seem to understand pretty well. We have a supervisor on call each week too, and while they dont generally respond to outages. Their life is disruppted for a week at time also.

[BillyMac]

We got something similar to Squizzy but not as good. We are on from Wednesday to Wednesday about every 4 weeks getting $25 a day any less then 1-4 results in $35 day. If required 2nd Response you receive $35 a day if no call, $25 if you get one. Also if phoned outside ordinary work hours in relation to work you can get paid 1Hrs overtime.