Question

A disaster recovery business responds to calls from [potential] clients who have had a "disaster" damage their home - for example, a pipe burst and caused a flood, or the cat knocked over a halogen lamp causing fire damage in the living room, or a hurricane has broken a window and damaged a room. Business has picked up and this small, 2-man company decides to hire a new employee. This new employee will staff an office from 9-5 M-F and take calls 24/7 from people who have had a disaster. The new employee will keep track of invoices, billing, payments, etc. The new employee would need to carry a mobile phone and answer calls that could arise 24 hours a day/7 days a week. Your friends know you've taken an employment law course and ask you for help. Draft a memo setting forth the legal responsibilities (if any) towards this person. 1. Discuss in detail, in relation to both federal and a specific state law, if the company has to pay the new employee by the hour for each hour they carry the mobile phone? 2. What does being on call 24/7 really mean? 3. What can or cannot the new employee do while on call 24/7? Support your conclusions in 1-3 with federal and specific state law. See Discussion Expectations and Grading for rules on discussion requirements. This discussion may require additional research beyond reading the articles furnished below. Initial submission due by midnight Thursday and then you must substantively respond to at least two other student comments in this discussion no later than 10pm Sunday. Must use two HR/legal references. Here are a few references to get you started. http://www.washlaw.edu/uslaw/ [Link to all state laws.] http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/whdfs53.htm http://hrdailyadvisor.blr.com/2012/03/14/know-the-rules-for-on-call-workers/ http://primepay.com/blog/why-size-matters-employment-labor-law-compliance

Answer 1

MEMO stating legal obligations for the parties involved

This memo is made and entered as of 16/01/2018 by “XYZ disaster recovery”, with an address at “XYZ disaster recovery,Street 2, San Francisco” with “Mr. ABC”(name of employee hired) with an address at (employees address). This memorandum is signed in order to set understanding between both employer and employee while appointing employee. This memo will expire in 11 months from the date of its effectiveness unless it is extended in written.

As per the federal law and San Francisco Fact Sheet #44: Visits to Employers; the information regarding laws enforced by the Wage and Hour Division is provided in details regarding what the company has to pay the employee by the hour for each hour they carry the mobile phone.
According to Wages and the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), if the the employee has to carry mobile phone 24/7, the employer need to compensate for commute time, they spend on attending and making calls related to their jobs which according to minimum wages act should not be less than $7.25 per hour.
As per Fact sheet #53,of Federal law; if an employee is required to attend calls or make calls apart from work premises and cannot use his time effectively for personal use, this time has to be compensated by employer as a working time, which according to Federal law should not be less than $7.25 per hour.
If an employee works for more than 40 hours in a given week, according to FLSA, he should be compensated for one and a half times of their hourly wage.
While on call even if your employee is not in office premises but he needs to report when he is called, as per FLSA’s guidelines these hours spent on call are payable.
However, if employee is on call all he could do is to be attentive towards his duties and take necessary actions towards damage control.
The employee on call 24/7 cannot afford to miss a call.
In the witness whereof; by signing this memo, both employers and employee have entered the memo to be effective and should be executed from effective date.

Employer signature

XYZ disaster recovery, 16/01/2018

Employee Signature

ABC, 16/01/2018

(All the three mentioned questions are answered in the above memo.)