First off, let me say I work for a VERY small ambulance company in California. If you know anything about the ambulance business in CA, it is very cut throat, and I understand why my employer is doing this, I just want to know if it is legal. (We do not run 911 calls at all. Only transfers from one facility to another.)

I have seen the CA FAQ (http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Overtime.htm) on overtime that states an employer can require scheduled overtime from employees. My question is:

If I am scheduled to work from 10am-6pm and my employer, due to decisions he has made throughout the work day, finds himself to be short on coverage, can he force my crew to stay and even threaten to fire us if we say we don't want to or can't due to family commitments or previous engagements?

For example, we have a 24 hour crew (7am-7am) and an 8 hour day crew (10am-6pm). Our dispatcher dispatches the 24 hour crew to post at a local international airport at 6:30pm waiting for a LifeFlight transfer, thus tying up the 24 hour crew for several hours. At 7:30pm the day shift crew is just rolling in to the station to sign off for the day because a transfer scheduled for 5:30 pm ran very late due to traffic and weather. A call comes in to dispatch for a local skilled nursing facility that transport is needed immediately. Rather than decline the call because the 24 hour crew is currently tied up, the dispatcher say, "sure we can take it. The day crew guys just got back. They can take it." Day crew chief says, "no we can't I have to pick up my son in 20 minutes." Dispatcher replies, "you have two choices, run the call, or leave now and you can get your final check in two weeks."

I know this isn't a prudent way of treating your employees or in any way conducive to employees staying, but is it legal? I think the operative word here is scheduled, though I cannot find the actual law this answer is based on. Any help is appreciated.

The only modified work schedule our employees agree to upon employment has to do with the payment breakdowns for a 24 hour shift. There is none for the 8-hour, day shift. Also, it is ALWAYS the day crew that is being held over. Several times with the 24 hour crew sitting in the station the whole time "just in case there was a call." I've worked day crew for close to a month now and have no actually gotten off work before 7pm yet and have had multiple 12 and 14 hour days. Overtime is the rule not the exception.

Also, I was just wondering, how does an employee get compensated for the hour of lunch if there is no time to take it? And how does it jibe with overtime. Say, for example, I work 10am to 10:30pm and worked straight through, no stopping for lunch or a break at all. Right now we just put our total hours on our timecard, so I don't know how the hours are being broken down by my employer. I think it should be 9 hours straight time and 4 1/2 of time and a half. Am I wrong here? Just wondering.

Thank you all in advance for your replies, and sorry if this has been answered before, I did a search and there didn't seem to be any situations that matched mine.

chance

If you look at Question #7 in the same link, you will find your answer.

See here for your questions about breaks and meal periods:
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_MealPeriods.htm
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_RestPeriods.htm

So, if we not only don't get a lunch, but we also don't get rest periods, we're entitled to 2 additional hours on top of our 8 hour base? Interesting.

Thank you Pattymd.

Now just waiting on the forced overtime question.

chance

That's what I referred to. Question #7 here:
http://www.dir.ca.gov/dlse/FAQ_Overtime.htm

Q. Can an employer require an employee to work overtime?
A. Yes, an employer may dictate the employee's work schedule and hours. Additionally, under most circumstances the employer may discipline an employee, up to and including termination, if the employee refuses to work scheduled overtime.

I think the issue he is raising is that the FAQ answer says "scheduled overtime," and he is calling this "unscheduled" overtime. However, it would make no difference. An employer can terminate an employee at any time for any reason, or no reason at all -- provided that the reason is not illegal.

As asking for unscheduled overtime is generally not illegal, terminating someone because of it is also not illegal. There would be some issues with alternative work week schedules, but I don't see those being used here.

Of course, all wages are due upon termination. Thus, if the employer didn't have your final pay check ready at the time of termination, your wages would continue up until all wages were paid or 30 days. Thus the "get your final check in two weeks" statement is fine, as long as that final check pays you for those two weeks of pay even though you performed no work.

If two hours before a shift is over, an employer emposes manditory overtime on hourly paid workers who they have reduced to 6 hour shifts (from 8) -- do they have to pay time and half? :confused:

Short of a contract requiring otherwise, no. Overtime is not required by law just because you worked past your scheduled hours, unless the total hours worked in the day exceed eight. May I suggest you go back and read the information on the link I provided about overtime? All of this information is there.

Thanks. I read the link, but wasn't sure. I'm also wondering if there's any difference between scheduled overtime and sudden manditory overtime? Can they request overtime mid shift for the same day and then turn around and make it manditory after a worker has declined? Are there any limits to when and what types of overtime an employer can make manditory??

There are a myriad of limits that are placed on when overtime can be mandated. However, most of these are esoteric restrictions such as people working in a federal volunteer program, nurses working certain shifts when a "medical emergency" has been declared, certain workers on overnight fishing vessels, people working under an alternative work week schedule, etc.

Rather than listing all of these out, it might be easier to ask about the specific situation that you are interested in. However, the general rule is that an at-will employer can ask you to work any amount of overtime, at the drop of a hat, during any time of your shift, and even after you have left work, and fire you immediately if you blink before answering with a firm and resounding "Yes, sir!"

Thank you for your responses. It is as I figured, even with the change of wording from scheduled to unscheduled. MTracy, you're point that we are at will employees is more toward the answer I was looking for. Doesn't matter if we can be held over or not leagally, we can just be fired for some other reason the boss decides upon.

Funny enough, there was a story line on at will employment on Boston Legal this week and I just watched on the Tivo last night after work. Woman got fired because her boss said she had to quit smoking. She couldn't. She got fired. They sued. She lost.

Being the crew chief I sat down with the boss and we negotiated a way to make this work better for both sides, so all is not totally lost yet. We'll see.

Thanks for your help.