I am a tow truck operator in az. We are on call 24/7. We have to be available for law enforcement in 20 minutes or less depending on the location of the call. A real burden on the personal life. We are paid commision for all of the towing, roadside assistance calls, etc., we do. So obviously If were busy we make good money but if were slow.......

1. My question is this: Does my employer have to compensate me for the on-call time, say if i don't get a call for 2 days? Essentially I'm on call 168 hrs a week. At some point does the minimum wage law go into effect?

Another question: 6 months ago I damaged a vehicle, instead of calling the insurance company, the vehicle was repaired by a local shop. They are now taking money out of my check. I never gave them permission to do so. Is this legal?

Anyone have an answer. I sure would appreciate it. Thank You

Payroll guys are snoozing their on the east coast.
JoeC

AZ is not my state, and I have no idea what those rules are. State rules can be more favorable to the employee then federal rules. I can speak to federal rules only.

The recovery without permission may be legal under federal rules. It depends on the amount of the recovery in comparison to the total payment.
http://www.dol.gov/esa/regs/compliance/whd/whdfs16.htm

On call is complicated, and again I do not know what rules AZ has (if any). I can list the federal rules but I do not know how federal or state DOL (generally state DOL is the one involved) will consider your situation. Some rules have a nice "bright line" definition but on call does not.

- Employees who must be on-call on the employer's premises or close enough to seriously curtail their use of the time for their own purposes must be paid for the time spent on-call. But employees who merely have to leave word where they can be reached are not working while on call. (29 CFR 785.17).
- Employees must be paid for unproductive time if that time is spent for the employer's benefit (29 CFR 785.7).
- If an employee has been called back to work, you must also pay for his travel time because his time is no longer under his own control once he receives the call back to work. If he works from home, only the time actually spent working has to be paid for. (29 CFR 785.33-785.41).
- The regular hourly rate of pay of an employee is determined by dividing his total remuneration for employment . . . in any workweek by the total number of hours actually worked by him in that workweek for which such compensation was paid. On call pay causes the regular rate of pay to change. (29 CFR 778.109)

Regarding the deduction, maybe.
http://www.ica.state.az.us/faqs/labor/wage_payment_laws.html#

Contact the ICA regarding your particular situation and ask them.

Sorry about that DAW I forgot you were on the west coast.
JoeC