Legal Question in Employment Law in Florida

on-call / Afterhours

I've been a salaried employee working for my company for several years now, and for all of them I've been paid on a separate line item on my paycheck for ''Afterhours'', in addition to the line item makred ''Regular'' for pay. This is for being on call carrying a pager 24X7 in case any of our customers call with a problem. I have to be at work on the problem in under an hour. Now the company is changing its policy and is planning to remove the ''Afterhours'' pay, and still require me to be on-call! Is this legal for them to do? Note that my contract makes no mention of Afterhours or pagers or 24X7 work. It simply says ''40 hours per week'' for the compensation of $xxx.xx (my Regular pay) not including the afterhours. Can I legally simply refuse to carry the pager and be on-call since they aren't paying me the extra money anymore? (Which they did for years and never complained until now).


Asked on 7/10/07, 3:46 pm

1 Answer from Attorneys
Keith Stern Shavitz Law Group

Re: on-call / Afterhours

The answer to your question depends in large part on the actual duties you perform and how much time you work beyond 40 hours/week. The law typically does not require compensation for pure "on call" time, as opposed to time actually spent working once contacted while "on call," but you should consult with a lawyer to determine what your rights may be. Please feel free to contact us for further assistance.

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Answered on 7/12/07, 3:01 pm


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