Michigan Mandatory On-Call Question

[tnoflahc]

I'm trying to find out if my employer is required to compensate us for the time we spend on-call. Here is my situation:

I work for a cleaning company. When we are called up, we have to drive to an account and fill-in for a cleaner that has not reported to work, or we have to respond to emergencies (floods, fire clean-ups, etc).

When we are hired, we are not told that we will be required to be on-call certain weekends throughout the year, thus there is no agreement made between employee and employer regarding on-call status. It's basically, "Oh, by the way, and if you don't you're in trouble."

At the beginning of each year, an on-call list is posted in the office, with names of who will be on-call for which weekends. This list shows the entire year.

We are allowed to ask co-workers to swap on-call-dates, provided management approves the change.

When we are on-call, our on-call starts at 12am Saturday (or Friday, if Friday is a holiday), and ends at 12am Monday (or Tuesday, if Tuesday is a holiday).

The requirements of being on-call are:
- We must carry a company Nextel, which must be switched on at all times.
- We must answer any calls to said Nextel.
- Unless we are already performing work for the company at the time of a call, we must clock in and go to whichever account needs work performed.
- We are not allowed to drink alcohol during our on-call.
- We are not allowed to "leave town" during our on-call.
- We are not allowed to make uninteruptable plans (wedding, church ceremy, etc) during our on-call.

In addition to being on-call, we also have a "back-up" on-call, which is someone who is called up if you were not able to be contacted and work needed to be performed, or if you are already performing work. The requirements of being a back-up are the same as the above stated on-call requirements, and this position is also mandatory.

We are paid double-time for the time that we are called up. For example, if I am called at 3pm on Saturday, and I work four hours at an account, then I am paid for eight hours.

We are not paid anything for the time that we are on-call. For example, if I am on-call this weekend, and I receive no calls and thus do not have to go in to do work, then I receive no form of compensation for the time that I was on-call.

We have repeatedly requested some form of compensation for the time that we are on-call. Management has always told us that they will not compensate us. Obviously, this poses a problem to us because of the nature of our work; we have to be physically present at an account in order to perform the work if we are called up, thus we must be able to drive to the account within a short amount of time of being called up. This obviously precludes us from making plans for the weekend, additionally, as stated above, the company has told us that we are not allowed to make plans, and that we must remain at home/in town, or we face disciplinary action if we miss a call.

Based on the few tidbits that I have read elsewhere online, I am led to believe that an employer is not required to compensate for on-call time, unless the employee is restricted to where they are allowed to go and what they are allowed to do. This seems to fit my situation, however, the information that I found was mostly anecdotal, and without any reference to pertaining laws.

Can anybody help me out with this? I would like to know if my company is required to compensate us for being on-call, since we are restricted in what we can do for the time we're on-call. Additionally, I would like to know what the company can and cannot do to me if it turns out that they are legally responsible for compensating us, and I present them with the relevant information and ask them for compensation. References to pertaining laws and court cases would be greatly appreciated, keeping in mind that I am in Michigan.

I know quite a few people who have similar issues, so hopefully there will be quite a few people who find this thread to be of some help.

Thanks for taking the time to read this.

[Pattymd]

I doubt that the restrictions you cite would rise to the level of "severly restricted" enough to require compensation. It also depends on how often you have these weekend "on calls" and how often you are actually called in. You can contact the state Dept. of Labor to inquire further.

[tnoflahc]

Could you possibly point me to some examples of severe restrictions, please?

[cbg]

A severe restriction would be one in which you could not leave the house and had to report within five to ten minutes of the call.

Simply carrying a pager is not remotely restrictive enough to require on-call compensation.
Being required to answer all calls is not restrictive enough to require on-call compensation unless the time frame in which you have to do so significantly restricts your activites. If you are carrying a pager, which means you can leave the house and go about your regular routine without being tied to a phone line, this is unlikely to be the case.
You would need to be paid for any time in which you actually perform work for a customer