"on-call" question in AL

[kingfrosty42]

Can an employer force you to be "on call", on your sceduled days off, and not compensate you for the call time. As it is I can not make any plans on my off days due to the fact that I have to be available, and they make us take the call a month at a time.
Please help me.

thanks,
Kingfrosty

[cbg]

Yes, your employer can require you to be on call on your days off.

Whether you have to be paid for the time is dependent on factors you have not provided. No law requires that you be paid simply for being on call. What matters with on call time is whether or not the time is unduly restricting.

These examples are deliberately extreme. But if you are confined to the house and have to answer all calls within five minutes, that's probably time you will have to be paid for. On the other hand, if you can carry a cell phone or pager so that you can go about your business and have two hours to return any calls, you probably don't have to be paid unless you are ACTUALLy called into work.