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posted by cmn32480 on Thursday December 10 2015, @06:25AM   Printer-friendly
from the put-in-a-ticket dept.

Hey Soylentils,

One of my least favorite parts of my job is on call work. I'm wondering if there are any standard practices when it comes to afterhour on call work. At the moment, I am on call 50% of the time. (I share it with one other person). When I am on call, I am expected to answer the ticket within 15 minutes, which means:

- I can't leave the city
- Going to a restaurant/movie/etc is a gamble.
- Sometimes I have to drop whatever I'm doing and answer a call.

Thankfully, I don't get many calls -- Maybe one per week that I can resolve in 30 minutes. In exchange for carrying the pager, I am paid a flat rate of $250CAD/week. After taxes, it works out to more like $150. I am sick to death of carrying the pager. I hate being restricted in my movements on my time off. I like to get out to the mountains, and because of pager, I can't.

Now, there are rumors that the company might remove that $250/week because of "the economic times". That basically would mean that I am giving up my freedom 50% of the time for nothing, and that I should be happy to have a job. Needless to say, I'm a little upset at that prospect...

So, Soylentils, what are your pager practices? Do you get paid for on call work? What happens if you miss a call? Do you have a backup on-call person? Do you get time off in lieu?


Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by bradley13 on Thursday December 10 2015, @08:00AM

    by bradley13 (3053) on Thursday December 10 2015, @08:00AM (#274326) Homepage Journal

    I don't know employment law where you live, IANAL, yadda, yadda.

    AFAIK, in most countries your company is required to compensate you for being on call. Simply eliminating this is probably a violation of employment law. How much they compensate you, on the other hand, is a matter for negotiation.

    Expecting your full salary for being on call (as another poster suggests) is unrealistic. However, some percentage of your salary, plus time-and-a-half for hours actually worked, is entirely realistic.

    Practical suggestion: Find out what the law says in your country, work out a proposal, and initiate the discussion yourself. Buy an hour's time from an employment lawyer, to get a written summary of the legal situation. You think they may want to reduce compensation? Pretend ignorance, go to your boss with the facts: here's the law, and here's what a pain it is, here's what you want to continue being on call.

    Looking for another job in the meantime is certainly a good backup plan.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @02:19PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @02:19PM (#274433)

    I actually looked at the Canadian Labour code [justice.gc.ca] about this a few days ago.

    Section 181.a says that the Governor in Council may specify a minimum number of hours to be paid every day while on call, but I was not able to find any actual regulations on that.

    Of course, from the original submission, it is not clear that the OP is in a federally regulated industry. Provincial law may apply.

    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @02:21PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Thursday December 10 2015, @02:21PM (#274435)

      Actually, section 11.1 specifies a 3 hour minimum if you actually report for work. That may help if you actually get called out.