On-Call Worker Should Be Paid
Q: I am an hourly employee for a medical delivery service. I am on call both day and night every third week, including the weekend. I must carry a beeper 24 hours a day during that week and have to stay within a close, limited area. I am not paid for being on call. I only get paid for time spent making the delivery, though clients call me with questions and I can put in a substantial amount of time - up to several hours. Is the way my employer is paying me legal?
A: “Employees should be paid while on call if they are required to remain on the employer’s premises or so close (by) that they cannot use the time effectively for their own purposes,” according to Chicago attorney and chair of the Wage and Hour Committee of the National Employment Lawyers’ Association.
And unless the phone time is insubstantial (a few minutes or less), the employee on call should record and be paid for the time spent on the phone. The Fair Labor Standards Act, which governs when employers must pay employees for work time, does not define the term “work,” but mandates that an employee be paid for time spent for the employer’s benefit and with its knowledge, especially time spent on duties, tasks or actions that are an integral part of the employee’s job.
Employee rejects boss’ matchmaking efforts
Q: I have an unusual work situation. My boss and co-workers have been pressuring me to date girls at work. My boss says things like, “I’ll make sure that these two get married.” My co-workers also ask me almost daily why don’t I date a certain girl. I always say we’re just friends, but the pressure has made me distant, moody, depressed and angry, and has affected my work. I have always made it a policy not to date co-workers. I have complained to our HR department, but nothing came of it.
A: Be direct with these matchmakers and tell them you are not interested and that you can choose your own dates. If their badgering continues, you need to tell your boss that his dating suggestions are upsetting you and affecting your work performance. Surely he cares more about the work product than he does about your personal life.
If you’re afraid to date within your workplace, you might benefit by reading Dennis M. Powers, “The Office Romance” (AMACOM $22.95). Among the many surveys Powers uses to show how companies view dating from within, the Fortune magazine survey of 200 CEOs revealed that “79 percent agreed that if an unmarried couple was discreet, an office romance was not the company’s concern.” The book also offers guidelines for office romances, so you can approach dating intelligently.
Management meetings turn into smear-fests
Q: I’m a departmental head at a small but lucrative business. I love the work because it’s challenging and important. The environment, though, is impossible. The owners micromanage to the point of creating a stressful, unnecessarily competitive and confrontational atmosphere. Instead of departmental cooperation, the heads continually accuse each other and meetings turn into smearfests. Nothing has been effective in changing this situation, so I am looking for another job. What should I say about why I’m leaving?
A: Since you love the work, how about one more attempt at trying to improve relations? Ask for all the department heads to meet, not to discuss any work, but to talk about attitude, integrity and company environment. Negativity spreads easily. If you stop the first person who displays negativity at the meeting and explain its effects, others might begin to see what you’re trying to accomplish. Once you get the heads to join in a cooperative effort, you all might be able to ignore the owners’ management style.
If you can’t get this small group to change the environment, consider a job at a large company where micromanaging is less likely to be tolerated. When interviewing, explain that you prefer a larger, more established company.