Office of Human Resource Services

On-Call Pay
During off-duty hours, an employee who is required to wear a beeper or leave word of where he or she can be reached and is required to respond to emergency signals or calls is considered on-call. These employees may be compensated accordingly. On-call pay for the period an employee is required to be on-call during their regular work week is $2 per hour.

For an employee who is on-call on Saturday, Sunday, and/or a university holiday or official closing —the employee must be paid for each hour he or she is required to be available at the rate of one-third of the statewide hourly minimum for his or her class. Payment for on-call is initiated in PeopleSoft’s Time & Labor process using the appropriate Time Recording Code.

Day Off in Lieu of Holiday

If the employee is asked to work on an official holiday and in turn is given another day off for the holiday and now the employee is on call on that day, he or she also must be paid for each hour required to be on-call at the rate of 1/3 of the university-wide minimum for his or her classification.  The day off holiday must occur within the same work week (Friday-Thursday) in which the official holiday falls.

Example:  The Labor Day holiday is scheduled for Monday, September 5.  If an employee works on September 5, but is given Tuesday, September 6 off in observance of Labor Day, he or she would receive holiday on-call pay if asked to be on-call Tuesday.  The reasoning is that Tuesday is now the holiday and the employee is being asked to return to work on that observed holiday. 

When mutually agreed upon, an employee can be on-call while on annual leave or compensatory leave. However, an employee cannot be on-call while on sick leave. 

Callbacks
When an employee is "called back" to perform work beyond the employee's scheduled hours of work for that day, a minimum payment may be required. USPS employees or non-exempt TEAMS employees who are called back will be credited with either two hours or the actual time worked plus traveling time to and from the employee's home—whichever is greater. On-call payment is not interrupted when the employee is called back to work. During a callback, the employee is at work, paid normal pay, and continues to receive on-call pay.

Exempt USPS employees are eligible for regular compensatory leave should the total hours worked in a workweek in conjunction with a call back exceed 40. Exempt TEAMS employees are not eligible for callback pay or regular compensatory leave, but supervisors are encouraged to adjust TEAMS exempt employees' workweek to compensate for the call back hours should the total hours worked in a workweek in conjunction with a call back exceed 40.

Callback pay applies regardless of whether the employee has been placed on-call. These provisions do not extend or apply to exempt TEAMS employees or academic personnel.

Answers to Commonly Asked Questions

• An employee who is called back to work receives on-call pay in addition to her/his regular base salary.
• On-call payments are made irrespective of whether the employee is called back to work for the total period spent on-call.
• Can an employee be on-call while on leave?  Yes.  However, an employee cannot be on-call while on sick leave.  When mutually agreed upon, on-call may be approved during periods of annual leave or compensatory leave.

updated 9/9/05