On call hourly pay question South Carolina

[Steveho]

I currently work for an air conditioning company which does require me to work on call 1 week out of every month. I am paid hourly and on normal "not on call" days, I get clocked out when I leave my last job. My question is when I am on call and have to leave my house to take a call, do I still have to clock out when leaving the job or does my time continue until I get back home?

I have heard that by law, I should be getting paid until I get back home in an on call situation. Is this true?

[DAW]

No, not really. "On call" is a function mostly of some 1940s court decions, plus the FLSA 29 CFR 785.17 regulation. The key is whether or not (in the court's view) you time is "sufficently restricted" that you are functionally still at work. A fire fighter who cannot leave the fire house fails this test. Someone who has to report to work very quickly (generally less then 15 minutes) after being called fails this test. Someone who has to handle tech support calls at home and functionally cannot leave their hours functionally fails this test.

Just carrying a cell phone or a pager does not fail the test. Not being able to leave the city/county does not fail the test. Not being able to get drink does not fail this test.

Basically the court will listen to your story and see based on the hundreds of thousands of prior related decisions whether or not you are "sufficently restricte".