Hourly pay for overnight stay and on call time

Status
Not open for further replies.

LPierson

New Member
First and foremost, this is a great site and I truly appreciate any help any of you can give. My employer (a beverage company) has recently changed a large portion of our office from salary plus commission to hourly plus commission because " previously we were not in compliance with federal labor laws." I took this to mean they were working someone 60-70 hours a week and got sued. Our job title ends in "manager," but 90% of what we do is not management. We service and deliver product and try to sell at the same time.

My main question regards how we are supposed to be compensated for overnight runs. Some of the employees stay out of town one or two nights a week. The company pays for a hotel and I think they allow about $30 for meals. Prior to April of this year, this did not happen. We terminated a "satellite employee" and upper management decided to run that area from the local office instead of hiring another satellite. With fuel cost what they are (even with the recent drop), we are now scheduling other employees who service outlying areas to do the same. We pay the employee(s) from the time they call the office in the AM at their first stop to the time they call the office from their last stop. I can understand how a salaried employee would figure away from home time (at the initial time of employment) in his/her compensation package, but how is an hourly employee compensated? Personally, if I'm not at my house, with my family, doing whatever I want to do, I think I should be compensated for it.

My secondary question regards "on call" pay. The employees all take turns "on call." Previously, it was included in our salary. Now, we get paid hourly OT for night and weekend calls. Again, if I have to sit at home and stare at the phone from 5 PM Friday to 7 AM Monday and can't do anything (dinner, movie, go to the lake, visit my parents, etc.) I would think I should be compensated for it even if I don' t get any service calls.

I read some other threads and saw some related to travel time, but did not find anything like this. I have also searched the TDL and USDOL websites and could not find a clear ruling on this. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thank You.

LPierson.
 
There is no Federal or state law (in any state) prohibiting a work week of 60-70 hours. That is, in fact, quite common in some positions.

There are, however, both Federal and state laws (in many states) regarding when an employee can legally be paid 100% commission or, alternately, on a salaried basis. It is not the number of hours that is the problem; it is how the employee is paid. Unless the employees is doing outside sales and not always then, it is far, far safer legally for employees in sales to be paid on an hourly basis and not on a salaried basis.

No law requires that you be paid for every hour that you are traveling. That may not be what you want to hear but it is the truth. The laws on travel for non-exempt employees are fairly complex and I will try to find the link and post it for you, but in essence you need to be paid for any time you are actually working (this includes things like dinners or events where you are required to be present) or any time you are traveling that falls during your regular work schedule. It does not include any time spent sitting in your hotel room or the airport that does not fall into your regular work schedule (some exceptions apply).

Whether or not you have to be compensated for any on-call time depends on how restricted your time is. If you literally have to be sitting at home watching the phone for an immediate response then yes, you have to be paid for it in most cases. But if you can go about your business, go out to dinner, go to a movie, etc. but carry a cell phone or pager in case you are needed, that time does not have to be compensated. Before you ask, the two most commonly complained about restrictions, "I can't leave town" and "I can't drink alcohol" have been established by many courts NOT to be restrictive enough to require compensation.
 
CBG,

Thank you for your reply. Mine is definitely a different situation. Had I known about the travel prior to accepting employment, I would have negotiated that into my compensation package. Since I was already employed and given no choice in the matter, I guess I'm stuck with it.

LPierson
 
Status
Not open for further replies.
Back
Top