I'm on call 24/7/365. I don't get paid a bit. That comes with the most honorable job of all: a Volunteer Fire Fighter/EMT. Be it an ambulance run or a structure fire, if any of the people in my district/territory/jurisdiction/etc. need me, I'm there at a moment's notice. And you can bet on the fact that I'll never ask for compensation.

 

I'm on call every third weekend, I get double time if I get called, otherwise I get nothing. In Iowa there are laws regarding on call hourly employees but I've never had any call to deal with them, I assume each state has it's own and obviously there are probably some fed rules as well.

Your states DOL website is here

I suggest you call them or email them, I'm sure they can give a fairly good answer.

 

Where I used to work 4 guys would rotate weekly on-call shifts, get to take a company vehicle home & get to run personal errands in it, when you would get called you would automatically get 1 hours overtime pay even if you were there 5 minutes & if you had to cross a county line, you automatically got at least 2 hours overtime pay.

 

With my new position I will be on call but only 1 week at a time and with all of our techs, we rotate and take turns. The weeks we are on call we work our normal 8:30-5:30 M-F and then we work 5:30 - 10:00 which is all overtime but only while working on a machine. If we are not committed to a call, then we don't get the overtime. BUT we do get a standby pay for each day that we are on call and it comes out to like $15.00 a day. Then all day on Saturday is overtime for all calls that we run and Sunday is all double time plus the standby for both days. Most of the other techs average around 25-30 hrs a week overtime while on call.

I will get my first taste of this in February.

 

I am on call with my business, but since I own it I don't get paid for when I am not actually working! I have worked several jobs, though, that did the same thing (emergency service for fire/water damaged homes) and was only paid when we went out. However, the pay is VERY good when I do go out (especially now that I own a business instead of working for someone else).

 

Exactly what do you do? I work a 7/7 schedule but have worked 24/7 on call at my old job. Technically now I am on call on my days off but I have an option of whether or not to go.

 

I'm a mechanic for a charter bus co. I also don't get paid overtime no matter how many hours I work. A neat little provision in the state labor laws exempts motorcoach companies from having to pay overtime. I've been woken up to go as far south as Virginia and as far north as Quebec, Canada to chase broken down buses. Luckily, I wasn't working my regular job when the calls came in.

 

My old job I was on call 24/7, but had every other weekend off. Still, getting called at all hours of the night, working 24hrs on end, and not having a social life ended that real quick. It was for the railroad, and they ran at all times of the day/night, so you can imagine how much of a pain it was. I didnt receive any compensation because I was salary, well too many 24hrs and I figured out it wasnt worth it, especially driving 300+miles a day.

I now work as an automation engineer, Im on call 4 times a year, plus pay is higher and vacation is better.