On-Call and Emergency Callback Pay

It is the policy of the State of North Carolina to provide additional compensation to designated employees, regardless of appointment type, who are required to serve in on-call status and/or who are called back to work.

Management should carefully weigh the costs and benefits of alternatives before authorizing on-call or emergency callback pay.  Reasonableness and fairness shall be exercised in administering this policy.

On-Call is compensation for an employee who must remain available to be called back to work on short notice if the need arises.  (If an employee must remain on University property or so near that time cannot be used freely, it is not considered on-call time but is recorded as work time.)

Emergency Callback is compensation for an employee who has left the work site and is requested to respond (either by returning to work or by responding by telephone or computer) on short notice to an emergency work situation in order:

• To avoid significant service disruption; or
• To avoid placing employees or the public in unsafe situations; or
• To protect and/or provide emergency services to property; or equipment; or
• To respond to emergencies with students, clients, inmates, patients, or residents.

All full- or part-time SPA employees (permanent, probationary, trainee, or temporary).

Designation of Classes/Positions

Based on sound business need, management at the school, department, or unit shall:

• Select positions that are subject to on-call and/or emergency callback,
• Maintain a list of the classification titles of these positions and their compensation rates, and
• Provide this list on an annual basis to the Office of Human Resources, Workforce Planning and Compensation Department.

Workforce Planning and Compensation shall submit a list of the classes eligible for on-call, along with the rates paid, to the Office of State Personnel, as requested.

Notification to Employees

Employees shall be notified in advance in writing of being subject to on-call and, to the extent practicable, emergency callback.

The Office of State Personnel has established market rate ranges for on-call pay based on position type.  On-call compensation must be in the form of pay or paid time off, as described below.

The University's on-call rate is $3.00 per hour for positions in:

• Medical / Health Care
• Information Technology
• Skilled Trades

The University's on-call rate is $2.00 per hour for any other positions that meet the definition of on-call status.

The manner of compensation is dependent upon the employee's appointment type:

• Temporary SPA employees must be paid for on-call time as it earned.
• Permanent SPA non-exempt employees (including probationary and trainee) who are wage-hour non-exempt either must be paid for on-call time as it is earned or receive paid time off as defined below.
• Permanent SPA exempt employees (including probationary and trainee) who are wage-hour exempt may receive paid time off at management's discretion as defined below.

On-Call compensation (either pay or time off) cannot be applied to work time, including breaks and meal periods.  However, on-call compensation may be applied to periods of paid leave only if it is management's expectation that the employee must respond (and be prepared and able to do so) during those time periods.

On-Call Compensatory Time Off

For permanent SPA non-exempt employees, management may choose to compensate on-call time with paid time off calculated at one hour for every eight hours of on-call time (or, 1/8th of an hour earned for every hour of on-call time).

On-Call Time Off (OCTO) may be accumulated up to a maximum of 240 hours, pro-rated for part-time employees. (Note: This on-call time off is not the same as compensatory time received in lieu of overtime pay and must be tracked separately.)

Any on-call time off must be paid out in the employee's next regular paycheck if:

• Accruing the additional time off would result in the employee having in excess of the 240 hour maximum accrual amount; or
• The on-call time off has not been taken within twelve months of the date it was accrued; or
• The employee leaves the position in which the on-call time off was accrued; or
• The employee's wage-hour status changes from non-exempt to exempt; or
• The employee's position converts from SPA to EPA.

Payout of on-call time off is calculated at the rate at which the employee would have received on-call pay originally.

Example:  Mr. Hines has worked 160 on-call hours (at $2.00/hr) and has received in lieu of pay 20 hours of on-call time off (160 / 8 = 20).  Mr. Hines accepts a position in another department and had not used any of the on-call time off.  Upon his transfer, the departed department pays out Mr. Hines for 160 hours of on-call at $2.00 per hour for a total of $320.

Overtime Pay Rate for FLSA Non-Exempt Employees

If an FLSA non-exempt employee works overtime during a week in which s/he receives on-call pay, the on-call pay rate must be included in the employee's regular pay rate for calculating the overtime pay rate.  However, the time spent in on-call status is not included for determining hours for overtime eligibility (with the exception of those hours for which the employee receives emergency callback pay).

Emergency Callback compensation for eligible SPA non-exempt employees must meet the following guidelines:

Employees whose work continues immediately following the end of their regularly scheduled hours of work are not eligible for callback pay; the time is considered regular work time.

If the employee was in on-call status at the time callback occurred, the callback time is subtracted from the total on-call hours for which an employee may be compensated.

Employees required to return to work shall receive a minimum of two hours paid time for callback at the employee's hourly rate.  If the time on callback exceeds two hours, the employee shall be compensated for all hours worked on callback.

Employees responding via telephone/computer shall receive a minimum of 30 minutes as paid time at the employee's hourly rate for each occasion of callback.  If more than one callback occurs within a given shift, total callback time cannot exceed two hours unless the time actually worked exceeds two hours.

Shift pay, holiday pay and overtime pay shall be received in addition to emergency callback pay, if applicable.

Emergency callback pay must be included in calculating the employee's regular rate for overtime pay.

Time actually worked, and travel time to the worksite, shall be included in callback hours worked for determining employee compensation, including overtime, if applicable.  Management shall determine a reasonable time for which preparation and travel to the worksite shall be compensated.  Travel time away from the worksite will not be compensated.

Paid Callback - Time Not Worked

If an employee who returns to work for emergency callback works at least two hours in a shift.  However, if the employee who returns to work for emergency callback works less than two hours, then the time worked is recorded as actual work time, and the amount of time necessary to equal two total hours of compensation is considered Callback Not Worked. 

Callback Not Worked for non-exempt employees is not considered work time for the purposes of determining overtime eligibility and is not offset by additional hours worked.  See "Determining Time Worked" in Related Subjects below for more information.

For Departments Using the Time Information Management (TIM) System: 

Implementation of the Time Information System (TIM) to track work hours, special pay, and leave for University employees began its phased implementation in August 2007.  See "TIM Website" in the "Related Subjects" section below for information on recording scheduling on-call shifts, recording on-call hours, accruing OCTO, and recording callback pay and callback time not worked.

Employee groups not yet moved into the TIM system follow the recordkeeping structure defined below. 

For Departments Using Employee Time Records:

For SPA non-exempt employees who complete an Employee Time Record:

• On-call pay hours are recorded on an "On-Call Authorization Form" and submitted along with the Employee Time Record to Payroll Services.
• Callback hours worked are recorded on the Employee Time Record as regular work time 
• Callback hours not worked (to reach the 2-hour minimum compensation are recorded with the coded column with code "B" -- Paid Callback Time Not Worked.
• On-Call Time Off accumulated by permanent employees during the biweekly should be referenced in the "explanation" section.  For example: "16 hours on-call for a total of 2 hours OCTO to be used by 12-04-2008."

See also "Leave/PTO Payouts & Transfers."

Permanent SPA exempt employees cannot receive pay for on-call hours.  Management may compensate SPA exempt employees with on-call time off (OCTO) but is not required to do so.  The accrual rate is the same as that for SPA non-exempt employees (1/8th of an hour earned for every hour of on-call time).  The maximum accrual of OCTO is 240 hours, pro-rated for part-time employees. 

Any OCTO hours accrued by an SPA exempt employee are forfeited if:

• The accrual results in a balance in excess of 240 hours of OCTO; or
• The time is not used within six months of its accrual; or
• The FLSA status of the employee's position changes from exempt to non-exempt; or
• The employee leaves the position in which s/he accrued the time; or
• The employee's position converts from SPA to EPA.

Exception for Information Technology positions:  Based on market data, the Office of State Personnel has allowed management the discretion to provide on-call pay (at $3/hr) to eligible employees in FLSA exempt Information Technology positions, but is not required to do so. Management also has the discretion to compensate exempt IT employees with on-call time off as described above, or some combination of on-call pay and OCTO.

Permanent SPA exempt employees cannot receive pay for emergency callback hours.  Management may compensate SPA exempt employees with equal time off (calculated on an hour-for-hour basis) but is not required to do so.

Any equal time off accrued by an SPA exempt employee for emergency callback is forfeited if:

• The time is not used within six months of its accrual; or
• The FLSA status of the employee's position changes from exempt to non-exempt; or
• The employee leaves the position in which s/he accrued the time; or
• The employee's position converts from SPA to EPA.

For Departments Using the Time Information Management (TIM) System: 

Implementation of the Time Information System (TIM) to track work hours, special pay, and leave for University employees began its phased implementation in August 2007.  See "TIM Website" in the Related Subjects section below for information on recording OCTO or Call Back ETO (SPA EX Call Back).

Employee groups not yet moved into the TIM system follow the recordkeeping structure defined below. 

For Departments Using Employee Time Records:

• On-call pay hours (for IT positions) are recorded on an "On-Call Authorization Form" and submitted along with the Employee Time Record to Payroll Services.
• For permanent SPA exempt employees, accrual and use of OCTO and SPA EX Call Back shall be recorded and tracked by the department's HR Facilitator or TIM Administrator.

See also "Leave/PTO Payouts & Transfers".

If you have questions regarding the proper application of on-call or emergency callback pay, contact the Employment Classification & Compensation Specialist in the Office of Human Resources assigned to work with your department or your HR Facilitator.