Hello,
I have a question about geographic restrictions placed by my employer. I work in machinery maintenance for a small company Monday through Friday. I do a lot of camping with my family on the weekends. My employer often tells me not to leave town on the weekends just in case I am needed. Most of the time I am not called in to work, but I have to stay home. Is it legal for my employer to require me to stay in town on the weekends or should I be compensated for on-call time?

Yes, it is legal for your employer to require you to be within reach when you are on call. Whether or not that time needs to be compensated is very situation specific and you have not given us enough information to form an opinion, but simply not being allowed to go out of town is not enough to make the time compensable.

Hello,
Thank you for your response. My son and I are involved in off road competition races that are always scheduled on Saturday for him and Sunday for me, and are 2-3 hours from my home so we usually camp for the weekend. Since they are held in the mountains, there is usually no cellular phone service. Is it legal for my employer to prevent me and my son from racing, even though I am not being compensated for my time? I live in a very rural area and there is no cellular service if I go even a few miles north, so I am limited to about the 20 miles between my home and work.

Yes, your employer can require that you stay where you can be reached if you are on call. However, sometimes being on call requires that you be paid -depends on various factors: How many calls an employee has to respond to while on call, how long they have to respond after a call, where they can go while on call (how close do they have to stay to work), what they can/cannot do while on call - such as cannot drink alcohol, etc.

It is legal for your employer to require you to stay within reach if you are on call, regardless of what activities you would prefer to be participating in. I don't know how to make it any more clear than that.

Again, whether or not you need to be compensated for that time is based on a multiple of factors, not just the fact that you wanted to go out of town and couldn't.

How can I find out if my circumstances require compensation? My work requires me to be on call "just in case", but I am rarely called in on the weekend. I can drink alcohol after the plant has closed for the day. I must drop whatever I am doing right away and report to work if there is a mechanical problem that I need to repair. They have even gone as far as calling my in-laws looking for me if I don't answer my phone.

Call the DLSE if you want a definite response, but it relates to how limited your activities are. If you have to stay by the phone every minute and be on site, when called, within fifteen minutes, then you probably have to be paid. If you can carry a cell phone or pager and have two hours to respond, you probably don't.

And despite what a great many people evidently think, whether you can or cannot drink alcohol has next to nothing to do with whether you have to be paid or not.

My work requires me to be on call "just in case", but I am rarely called in on the weekend. I can drink alcohol after the plant has closed for the day.


As you stated, you are rarely call on the weekend and the consistency for weekend on-call is not often enough to restrict you from your personal time with your son. In my opinion, your on-call time will not be compensated.

Thank you all for taking the time to respond. I guess I am just out of luck. It just doesn't seem right that my employer can prevent me from doing what I want to do off the clock. I get paid Monday through Friday, but it seems like they own me because I can't race on the weekends. I guess I just need to find another job.

Thank you all for taking the time to respond. I guess I am just out of luck. It just doesn't seem right that my employer can prevent me from doing what I want to do off the clock. I get paid Monday through Friday, but it seems like they own me because I can't race on the weekends. I guess I just need to find another job.

I'm in the same boat man. It's ridiculous.