Do employees have to be paid to be on standby for work in California?

What is California’s On-Call law?

California’s wage laws specify how employers pay their employees, when, and by how much. California’s hour and wage protections are perhaps the most worker-friendly in the country. Workers in the state enjoy the right to rest breaks, overtime pay, minimum wage certification, breaks for meals, and more.

For example, California workers can collect a higher minimum wage than some other states since California’s minimum wage standards are higher. Locally, workers might get higher minimum wage rates, and many of California’s cities feature higher minimum wage rates than the state’s guarantee.

Wage provisions in California protect workers who log hours of standby time and on-call times. Therefore, California’s hours and wage laws protect workers’ rights to equitable pay. Additionally, if a worker is considered able to work by a California company, the company owes the worker wages.

In this article, we will outline California’s on-call and standby policies for workers and employers and review other important wage and hour laws in California.

Are Employees Entitled to on call pay?

Questions about appropriate on call pay for unique situations such as standby time and on-call time arise often. Multiple cases touch on the topic of compensation in these situations. For example, should on-call employees be paid for their “waiting” time or not?

The court cases, such as Armour & Co. vs. Wantock, established that when companies hire workers to anticipate action, they should be paid for their working time if the hours were seen as “under an employer’s control.”

An employee’s hours spent on-call or standby to be related to work and must be paid because it benefits the employer.

Plus, the compensation rate for standby time may be less than the compensation for normal hours. However, employees should be paid minimum wage at the least.

How is on-call time paid in California?

For companies to pay workers for on-call time, the court must establish that the employer controls those hours.

However, if the employee can sleep, do personal duties, or watch TV, those actions do not mean that the employee cannot be paid. The worker should be paid if the worker is spending time under the employer’s control.

It can be difficult, however, to figure out of workers should be compensated for standby time. Here is a list of factors that employers consider when debating this question:

The Employee’s Location

When workers are required to continually return to the job site and stay there, the employee is restricted geographically. For example, employees cannot go home or pick up their children from school. If the employee must remain on the job site or close to it, they are under the employer’s control, supporting the claim to pay the workers.

How Frequently Calls Occur

Is work frequent during standby times, or do employers rarely call on their employees to work? If working while on-call is rare, then standby time may not be compensable.

On the other hand, sometimes work calls arrive nonstop, preventing the worker from spending time on anything constructive or personal. When work calls are frequent, the employer is in control, and the employee must be fairly compensated.

Intended Response Time

Some employers have severe requirements regarding how rapidly the worker shall report to work. In this case, employees are on-call and have to show up to the job site, for example, within a brief period. Rapid response time for employees means they are not only on call, but also the employer controls them.

Some employers have a set amount of time allotted to employees to report to the employer. This strict time frame prevents employees from going to dinner, for example, while on-call. For example, an employee on standby cannot go see a movie if he may need to be at work for 15 minutes at any given moment. If an employee did decide to see a movie and their employer called them into work, they would sacrifice the money they spent on the movie and miss the show.

Are Employees Able to Trade On-Call Duties with Other Workers?

The court is also interested to know if employees can trade their standby duties with others. For example, a worker is asked to work but lets their friend go in instead. As a result, the worker has essentially arranged to have another worker perform their duties, and they might not be able to collect payment for their shift since they chose not to work.

A scenario could also arise in which the worker who had their shift covered is disciplined for not reporting to work. For example, if a skilled carpenter has their shift covered by someone who cannot finish work, the entire job may stall and suffer. In cases like this, the court may decide that the standby time is under the company’s control. Or, the company could clarify that covering each other’s shifts is only allowed in an emergency or if one employee cannot work.

Time Spent on Personal Activities

When an on-call worker can complete personal activities, the court may determine that the company does not control the employee. For example, the court may decide that the company should not pay employees if they read a novel or watch a long movie. In addition, long periods without work that employees fill with personal tasks are sometimes not compensated. For example, let’s say the employer called the employee to work twice during that shift, however, for an hour each. In this case, they would be paid for those hours.

Should Workers Be Paid for Sleeping?

Based on existing cases, California’s Supreme Court decided that companies must include time an employee is sleeping when computing standby or on-call hours.

Therefore, employers cannot use employment contracts to dismiss standby workers unless the law explicitly allows the employer to exclude on-call shifts from compensation for hours worked.

However, employers often reduce the compensation amount for the time workers sleep to minimum wage. For example, if a firefighter sleeps for half an eight-hour shift, they might be paid minimum wage for four hours and their normal rate for the other four hours.

How Can Employers Enforce On-Call Laws?

Sometimes, workers realize that their companies have not paid them equitably. For example, many workers in California keep track of their hours and therefore notice that their employers did not compensate them for their standby hours.

Workers have rights, and when this occurs, they must seek a solution to the problem. Employees whose employers violate their rights have options, and these include:

• Employees can file a lawsuit for an employment law violation
• Employees can file a lawsuit for breach of wage and hour laws
• Employees can file a lawsuit with the office of the Labor Commissioner regarding wages

After filing an action or a claim, employees may be able to collect payment for their missed hours. In some cases, court costs, additional penalties, lawyer fees, and injunctive releases are also provided to the worker.

Filling out a claim is a serious action with powerful ramifications. However, sometimes it is the best bet for an employee who has not been fully compensated. When employers take advantage of on-call employees, workers should seek justice. They should contact an employment attorney with experience in California. A licensed attorney will help them pursue and resolve the claim.

Why Contact Nakase Wade?

California workers deserve compensation for all of the hours they work, and that includes standby hours. Unfortunately, some employers in the state choose to dispute whether standby or on-call time is “under their control.” The law dictates that employers must be fairly compensated when they control their workers’ hours.

Some wage and hour disputes grow complicated and involve a degree of subjectivity. At Nakase Wade, our skill and experience in dealing with California employment policies are unparalleled. Our goal is to protect the rights of employees who work long, hard hours, regardless of whether they are on standby time.

If you feel your employer takes advantage of on-call workers or you are not being paid as deserved, contact Nakase Wade immediately for a free consultation.