"On call", but calling it something else

[theatredork]

A local hospital requires that employees offer availability hours, and you don't find out until that day if they are working or not. You're required to call in every four hours until the end of your "availability". Nurses are no compensated for this, and don't get paid unless they work.

Can hospitals do this? Isn't this technically being "on-call"?

[Guttercat, ASN, RN]

They're probably getting around the "call" on a technicality. If the nurses have to call in every four hours, but are not required to be ready and available in between those times (as in sitting by the phone), then I suppose it's not "technically" being on call.

[jadelpn, LPN, EMT-B]

This is a new one. So no one is scheduled, you just give availability, and call in every 4 hours to see if you are needed? How do they decide who is "needed" and who is not? So if you call at 11pm and they say YUP come in, you have to go in for a night shift? Seriously? Do they not schedule, or is everyone PRN.

I would assume you are not union. However, if you are, when a new contract is negotiated, I would address this very thing. Especially if you are a full time employee. If you are required to call in every 4 hours, then you are "on call" and most (not all) but most facilities will pay a small stipend for that. How does anyone make ends meet with this? (besides the facility).

This has got to be one of the most crazy things I have heard in attempts to not pay nurses. I would treat it as a PRN position, look for a full time job, and only be "available" when I would want to be.

Ah, the stuff they pull when there's little work, and nurses are needing to work.

[Esme12, ASN, BSN, RN]

Hummmm....I would check you state labor laws. For the most part labor laws state.....If employees must be on-call at home....away from the premisies, you must pay them for those hours over which they have little or no control and which they cannot use for their own enjoyment or benefit. If they place significant restrictions on an employee who is on call, that employee should be paid. There are few hard and fast rules in this area....... but generally, the more constraints you put on an employee, the more likely it is that you should be paid.

Here are some factors:

• How many calls an employee gets while on call: The more calls an employee has to respond to, the more likely he or she is entitled to pay, particularly if any of the calls require the employee to report to work or give advice or guidance over the phone.
  
• How long an employee has to respond after a call: If you require employees to report in immediately after being paged, for example, they have a better argument that they should be paid for their time.
  
• Where an employee can go while on call: Employees who must stay within a limited distance from work are more likely to be entitled to compensation.
  
• What employees can do while on call: If you set a lot of rules for on-call workers, such as a ban on alcohol or a requirement that they respond quickly and in person to calls (which can be difficult if the employee is out running or taking the kids to school), you may have to pay for this time.
  

http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs22.htm