I work in a job that requires me to be on-call. I am required to carry a PDA and respond to all alerts on the PDA within 30 minutes at all hours of the day. I am required to be near internet access with special software so I can respond within that 30 minute window.

I am paid $35 dollars a day to be on-call, but was told that the pay blankets two hours of "free" work. The problem is that the overtime pay for the two hours would exceed the $35 dollars offered.

Is this a legal practice to pay less than my overtime pay for the initial two hours? Is an "incentive" pay required for the stipulations of the on-call situation?

Thanks.