If your employer has unreasonable restrictions on where you can go and what you can do during your on-call hours, but does not compensate you for that time, then you may be a victim of wage theft.
New York, California, Connecticut, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, and Washington, DC all have “reporting time pay” laws that require employers to compensate workers for time they would have worked. If your employer sets limits on how you can spend your time during your on-call hours, then these laws might apply and you could be entitled to compensation for that time.
Time is valuable, and if you are setting aside hours of your time to be available for your job only to be told that it was for nothing, then you may feel like your employer is taking advantage of you. You may have rescheduled appointments, had to make arrangements for your kids to get to school, and altogether put your life on hold for several hours each week just so that maybe your employer will tell you to come in during that time. But if your employer says they don’t need you, you don’t magically get that time back. Reporting time pay laws might give you the opportunity to get some of the value of that time back.
If you or someone you know works at a job that sets strict limits on how you can spend your on-call hours, please contact us to discuss your legal rights and options.