On-Call & Emergency Callback Pay

Title

On-Call & Emergency Callback Pay

Introduction

Purpose

On-Call is compensation for an employee who must remain available to be called back to work on short notice if the need arises. Emergency Callback is compensation for an employee who has left the work site and is requested to respond (either by returning to work or by responding by telephone or computer) on short notice to an emergency work situation.

It is the policy of the State of North Carolina to provide additional compensation to designated employees, who are required to serve in on-call status and/or who are called back to work.

Management should carefully weigh the costs and benefits of alternatives before authorizing on-call or emergency call-back pay. Reasonableness and fairness shall be exercised in administering this policy.

Scope of Applicability

All full- or part-time non-exempt SHRA employees (permanent, probationary, trainee, or temporary) are eligible.

Procedure

Selection & Notification

Designation of Classes/Positions

Based on sound business need, management at the school, department, or unit shall:

• Select positions that are subject to on-call and/or emergency callback,
• Maintain a list of the classification titles of these positions and their compensation rates, and
• Provide this list on an annual basis to the Offce of Human Resources, Classification & Compensation Department.
• Classification & Compensation shall submit a list of the classes eligible for on-call, along with the rates paid, to the Offce of State Personnel, as requested.

Notification to Employees

Employees shall be notified in advance in writing of being subject to on-call and, to the extent practicable, emergency callback.

On-Call Rates

The Offce of State Personnel has established market rate ranges for on-call pay based on position type. On-call compensation must be in the form of pay or paid time off, as described below.

The University's on-call rate is $3.00 per hour for positions in:

• Medical / Health Care
• Information Technology
• Skilled Trades

The University's on-call rate is $2.00 per hour for any other positions that require on-call status. The manner of compensation is dependent upon the employee's appointment type:

• Temporary SHRA employees must be paid for on-call time as it earned.
• Permanent SHRA non-exempt employees (including probationary and trainee) who are wage-hour non-exempt either must be paid for on-call time as it is earned or receive paid time off as defined below.

SHRA Non-Exempt Employees: On-Call Compensation

On-Call Compensatory Time Of

For permanent SHRA non-exempt employees, management may choose to compensate on-call time with paid time off calculated at one hour for every eight hours of on-call time (or, 1/8th of an hour earned for every hour of on-call time).

On-Call Time Off (OCTO) may be accumulated up to a maximum of 240 hours, pro-rated for part-time employees. (Note: This on-call time off is not the same as compensatory time received in lieu of overtime pay and must be tracked separately.)

Any on-call time off must be paid out in the employee's next regular paycheck if:

• Accruing the additional time off would result in the employee having in excess of the 240 hour maximum accrual amount; or
• The on-call time off has not been taken within twelve months of the date it was accrued; or
• The employee leaves the position in which the on-call time off was accrued; or
• The employee's wage-hour status changes from non-exempt to exempt; or
• The employee's position converts from SHRA to EHRA.
• Payout of on-call time off is calculated at the rate at which the employee would have received on-call pay originally.

Example: Mr. Hines has worked 160 on-call hours (at $2.00/hr) and has received in lieu of pay 20 hours of on-call time off (160 / 8 = 20). Mr. Hines accepts a position in another department and had not used any of the on-call time off. Upon his transfer, the departed department pays out Mr. Hines for 160 hours of on-call at $2.00 per hour for a total of $320.

Overtime Pay Rate for FLSA Non-Exempt Employees

If an FLSA non-exempt employee works overtime during a week in which s/he receives on-call pay, the on-call pay rate must be included in the employee's regular pay rate for calculating the overtime pay rate. However, the time spent in on-call status is not included for determining hours for overtime eligibility (with the exception of those hours for which the employee receives emergency callback pay).

SHRA Non-Exempt Employees: Emergency Callback Pay

Emergency Callback compensation for eligible SHRA non-exempt employees must meet the following guidelines:

Employees whose work continues immediately following the end of their regularly scheduled hours of work are not eligible for callback pay; the time is considered regular work time.

If the employee was in on-call status at the time callback occurred, the callback time is subtracted from the total on-call hours for which an employee may be compensated.

Employees required to return to work shall receive a minimum of two hours paid time for callback at the employee's hourly rate. If the time on callback exceeds two hours, the employee shall be compensated for all hours worked on callback.

Employees responding via telephone/computer shall receive a minimum of 30 minutes as paid time at the employee's hourly rate for each occasion of callback. If more than one callback occurs within a given shift, total callback time cannot exceed two hours unless the time actually worked exceeds two hours.

Shift pay, holiday pay and overtime pay shall be received in addition to emergency callback pay, if applicable.

Emergency callback pay must be included in calculating the employee's regular rate for overtime pay.

Time actually worked, and travel time to the worksite, shall be included in callback hours worked for determining employee compensation, including overtime, if applicable. Management shall determine a reasonable time for which preparation and travel to the worksite shall be compensated. Travel time away from the worksite will not be compensated.

Paid Callback – Time Not Worked

If an employee who returns to work for emergency callback works at least two hours in a shift, then the time is paid as work time. However, if the employee who returns to work for emergency callback works less than two hours, then the time worked is recorded as actual work time, and the amount of time necessary to equal two total hours of compensation is considered Callback Not Worked.

Callback Not Worked for non-exempt employees is not considered work time for the purposes of determining overtime eligibility and is not offset by additional hours worked. See Determining Time Worked for more information.

Record keeping

Time Information Management (TIM) System:

The Time Information System (TIM) is used to track work hours, special pay, and leave for University employees.

Related Subjects

• Determining Time Worked
• Payouts & Transfers

Definitions

On-Call is compensation for an employee who must remain available to be called back to work on short notice if the need arises. (If an employee must remain on University property or so near that time cannot be used freely, it is not considered on- call time but is recorded as work time.)

Emergency Callback is compensation for an employee who has left the work site and is requested to respond (either by returning to work or by responding by telephone or computer) on short notice to an emergency work situation in order:

• To avoid significant service disruption; or
• To avoid placing employees or the public in unsafe situations; or
• To protect and/or provide emergency services to property; or equipment; or
• To respond to emergencies with students, clients, inmates, patients, or residents.

Contact Information

Primary Contact