Weekend on call wages

I would like to know what the typical compensation is for being on call for the weekend and if you would get more if you had to go in.
I did a search on this topic but didn't get any hits.

Thanks for any input

I'm on straight salary. I get paid the same if I work 30 or 80 hours. Which is why, after working 12 60 hour weeks , I'm looking for a new job.

One that seems to be common is 4 Hours base pay just for being on call, and then a 4 hour minimum pay (at an overtime rate, be it 1.5 or 2.0) for responding to a call.
The 'on call' pay is usually counted against the response pay, in that if you get no calls, you get 4 hours, but if you respond to a call, you get the 4 hours at the overtime rate, but no base rate compensation.

Way back when....1/2 of my wages per hr (on call, 48hrs for weekend) , if I got called in then I would go to normal pay...I also had to respond within 15min of page and be there in 30min

Currently, there is no compensation for coming in and being a 'Company Man' and doing what needs to be done (salary position). However, my previous employer would give me a 4 hour minimum when I had to travel to the plant, which became a 2 hour minimum if I could correct the problem via modem from home.

I think it is fair to atleast allow some type of 'comp time' if a person is stuck in the plant all weekend, they should be allowed a day off the following week.

Just my opinion.

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God watches over old people and fools, you'll be fine.

Compensation for being on call

I work for a large pharma company.Until about 3 years ago it was expected that one would be on call 24/7 without any compensation.We would get paid 4 hours when called in for 10 minutes or for 4 hours.We
We now get about 2 hours wage for being on call per night or weekend.We still get the 4 hours when clocking in.

When I started working in the plant we had a large amuont of faults in the cold storage rooms.( 2or 3 a nite)The technician who came in to repair lived 10 minutes from the plant.
After he was fired =no faults at nite.I wonder why.

Steve

When I was running a service van a few years ago in Australia. We got Au$150 tax free just for being on call if there were any calls or not and then the call outs were double time with a 4 hour minimum for any night you had a call ( not per call!). Hope this helps.

Being on call was part of our job description. If we really needed time off, or were out of town, we just let the supervisor know in advance.



If we got called in, it was 4 hours min. or time and a half whichever was greater. After I started dialing in, I worked out a 2 hour min with the supervisor. This was paid if I could solve the trouble over the phone with someone at site, or if I solved it with on-line PLC work. Usually it was a combination. This was better for me because of a 45 min drive.



I certainly do not miss the 3:00 am calls.

Thanks for the replies. I am now being asked to carry a phone and be available all weekend to come in. No drinking no far trips from home. I am on salary but I think this needs further compensation.

They can't tell you not to drink on your own time, unless your in the military or in jail.


If they are going to dictate how you live your personal life, then you should be on the clock 24/7

Ok so this is how we do it;

There's an "on call" sched made up for the next year, sometime in November. All the licensed field techs are on the scheduale and basicly rotate weekends & holidays, and usually are assigned a couple of weekdays per month depending on the staff size. Somebody is on call ALL the time. The guys are free to change or swap dates with others as long as it's put on the master calander. They carry Nextels and a pager. Pay is whatever the job type demands. If there are no calls they get 1 hour of "standby" pay per day. If there is a call then no standby, but the applicable overtime for the call.

Eveybody fills out a slip indicating when they do not want to be on call. Usually it works out with no problems. Everybody seems to understand and accepts the responsability. It's the nature of the busniess..

I've was on call pretty much 24/7 for the last 8 years with my previous employer even when on holidays. I managed to go to mexico for a week last winter and my cell phone wouldn't work there so I was off the hook.


No pay zero zip zilch nada, I averaged about 20 phone calls per week and had to go to the plant on my off time averaging about twice per week.

I guess that's part of the reason why I quit and am looking for a new job.

daved said:

Thanks for the replies. I am now being asked to carry a phone and be available all weekend to come in. No drinking no far trips from home. I am on salary but I think this needs further compensation.

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Is this an every weekend thing or a every so often thing? If it is every weekend, I would think a huge payraise is in order. I agree that you should be compensated somehow if you have a once a month weekend, but salaried means they can do that until you snap. I ended up working on Easter free of charge for about 8 hours in the afternoon. But I took time off a little later in the week to make up for it.

In our shop the guys do not get any "standby" pay to carry the pager for the weekend. If they do get called they get 4 hours overtime even if it takes 10 minutes and most callins do. If they stay over 4 hours then they start picking up the additional overtime. If they get called in a second time during a 12 hour shift then they stay the remainder of the shift. I had a guy get called in at 7am and left at 7:30am. At 9 am he was called in agian for a simple problem and had to stay until 7pm.

Dale

I'm pretty much the "on-call" guy here at the plant for programming and controls items for support by phone, but it's not a mandatory thing. I'd rather someone called me and asked about something BEFORE I have to head into the plant to fix something they messed up.

But... Being single and having a fairly active social life..... I tell them to FIRST find out if I've been drinking that night.... If the answer is yes, then they get to call my boss and wake him up instead of talking to me. The rest of the time, I'm a night owl by choice, so a 3 am phone call normally just interupts my computer gaming time.....

If it's not something I can clear up by a 5 min phonecall, or if it takes a skill set that the people in the plant haven't used yet, then I usually head into the plant and take care of it. I only live about 10 minutes down the road from the plant, so it usually isn't a big deal for me to head in(unless I have company, or am otherwise occupied). I get 4 hours min pay for actually going into the plant, whether it takes me 5 min or even if the guys on shift figured it out before I showed up. If I spent too much time talking on the phone to someone I could get paid for that too(I guess), but it's never come up so far.

I guess if I was minded to abuse the system I could, but my boss is fully aware that I'd rather have the time off than the extra money, so there haven't been any issues in that area.

I don't need to come in nearly as often now as I used to, because anytime I do get called in to help out, that just pinpointed the next area on my training schedule for the maintenance techs.