Legal Question in Employment Law in Virginia
Compensation for On Call Time
I am a contractor working on a long term government contract providing technical support to United States Navy medical personnel. Myself and my peers take turns being ''on-call''. This means we carry a Blackberry and laptop, ensure we are at a location with internet access (we stay at home) . Each weekday duty is from 6:30 pm to 6:30 am, and from 1:30 pm to 6:30 am on weekends. We are only compensated if a user calls us for help while we are on duty.
The problem is that we technicians standing duty feel that we are not being adequately compensated because we have to alter what we do in our personal time in order to stand duty, but only compensated if a call comes in. So I give up golf games, don't go fishing, miss school plays, avoid alcohol, etc.
We feel that we should be paid for these concessions we make for the company. Not tomention loss of sleep. For instance, last night I turned into bed at 11:00pm, got a call at 11:23 that lasted until 11:37, got another at 12:20, another at 01:05, 01:20, 01:45, 02:30, 02:55, and 03:30. I got up for work at 05:00am and got in here at 06:30.
Are there any laws to protect us and possibly enforce fair compensation and a sleep period?
1 Answer from Attorneys
Re: Compensation for On Call Time
I advise that you meet specifically with an employment lawyer to fully review your case and a possible claim. However, you should be aware that on-call time is not always compensable except under specific situations--and the mere wearing a beeper or phone and responding within reasonable time is not.
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