ON-CALL PAY
The Town of Chapel Hill must provide a variety of critical services 24 hours a day 7 days a week. Need for these services may occur when employees who have necessary skills are not on duty. As a result, the Town must be assured that skilled employees are always readily available by placing some employees on an on-call status.
The employee is not performing work during this time, but normal off-duty activities and freedom of movement are limited by these on-call requirements. Therefore, the Town will provide compensation in appreciation for the restrictions of being on-call. Compensation will be paid to both exempt and non-exempt employees at the rate of $.90 (90 cents) per hour of on-call time.
Double the normal rate, $1.80 per on-call hour, will be paid for employees on-call on a Town holiday (or designated department observance of the holiday).
In 1998 the policy was set out in Section VII of the Classification and Pay Ordinance :
Employees who are required by their departments to be on-call for a designated period of time in order to respond to after-hour emergencies will be compensated at a rate of $.90 (90 cents) per hour for each hour of off-duty/on-call time. If employees are required to report to work following a call-back, the provisions of Section VII (of the Classification and Pay Ordinance), Call-back Pay, shall apply.
On-call status - a period of time outside of on-duty hours (often a week or weekend, 24 hours a day) when an employee is expected to be readily available for contact by phone, radio, pager or beeper. On-call status means being fit and able to report to work within an acceptably short period of time, as designated by the department.
Employees are not considered to be on-call in situations where an entire work group is placed on notice that pending weather conditions or special events or other comparable situations may necessitate employees being called back.
Call-back - time worked when departments require that employees report back to a worksite because of special needs or emergencies. Non-exempt employees will be paid for a minimum of two hours of work, even if their actual work time was shorter.
IV. SITUATIONS ELIGIBLE FOR COMPENSATION FOR BEING ON-CALL: Compensation will be paid in situations where full-time, part-time and designated contract employees, non-exempt or exempt, are on-call and therefore have restricted off-duty time. Employees who are designated as "back-up" but are subject to the same restrictions as the primary on-call person are eligible for the same compensation as the primary person.
Departments will establish specific policies governing on-call situations in their departments. However, in order to quality for on-call compensation, the following components will apply:
(1) The work unit has an established rotation where different employees share responsibility for being ready to return to work for a specified period of time when called. On-call status in a work group must be regularly shared by more than one employee on a rotating basis.
(2) The assignment should be on a recurring cycle, not a one-time assignment.
(3) The employee is on duty for a specific period designated ahead of time, usually a week (7 days). Hours when the on-call time begins and ends should be clearly established and communicated to the employee.
(4) The employee must be in touch by beeper, radio, or telephone numbers left at all times of assignment, wherever he or she goes.
(5) The employee must acknowledge the beep or call within a fairly short period of time (such as 15 minutes) or as designated by the department.
(6) The employee must be available to report to the work site and answer the needed work assignment within a fairly restrictive period of time (such as within an hour or less) as designated by the department. Therefore, the employee cannot go further out of town than the page or return time would allow.
(7) If called back, the employee is obligated to report to work capable of performing normal duties and other duties as may be reasonable under the criteria. Therefore, the employee should not drink alcoholic beverages during the period of time on-call because he or she must be ready to report to work .
(8) The employee would be sanctioned / disciplined if he / she does not respond or is not ready to work when called.
V. ADMINISTRATION OF THE POLICY:
Recordkeeping: Departments will report the total hours for on-call compensation on the timesheet to the Finance Department for inclusion of compensation in paychecks, but should maintain records which document the hours each employee was on-call versus on actual work status.
Emergencies: Employees would be informed of procedures for informing their supervisor or other person if, for some reason (example: sudden illness of self or a child) the employee knows he/she would not be available to answer a call.
Substitutions: Departments may establish procedures where employees may request in advance to have a substitute cover for him/her for a designated portion of the time for reasons acceptable to and approved by the supervisor. The hours which were covered by the substitute would be deducted from the total call-back hours of the primary employee, and would be paid to the substitute.
Failure to respond: If an employee does not respond to a telephone call, "beep", or "page" within the designated time, or is not able or available to respond to a call-back within the designated time, compensation for on-call status will normally be forfeited for the entire rotation..
Additionally, disciplinary action may be imposed in either of the above situations.
1. Not considered work time: Time spent on-call is not considered work time, and does not count toward hours of work for the purpose of calculating overtime. Although the on-call pay is combined with the employee’s check or automatic deposit, the on-call compensation is separate from and is paid over and above the work hours in a work period.
2. Reporting to work: Time spent answering the page or telephone call is part of the on-call responsibility and does not count toward work time. However, time spent on-site counts toward work time, and employees are guaranteed at last two hours of pay for the work performed when called back.
3. Time is either work time or on-call time, not both: Employees may not receive both on-call pay and regular or overtime pay for the same hours.
4. Subject to deductions: On-call pay is subject to state and federal taxes, and retirement deductions. The Town pays the 5% 401(k) contribution and retirement contribution on the on-call pay.