Pay whilst on call?

stephbond89

Hi, I have posted a few things in the last few days, and now I need your help again!

My hubby has been put on top "on call" duties for the weekend (and I think the week)- meaning he gets a call out whenever a guard is needed on site (he's a security guard), he can be called at any time during the day or night and have to go to anywhere in the area to go on site until the shift ends and the relief guard shows up.

His boss didnt mention anyth8ing about wages, of course if he is called out, he will be paid £6.50 per hour that he is on the site, but we wanted to know if he gets any wages for being on call in the first place. He has had to give up his weekend- we can't go out, or go away, he cannot have a drink, we cannot go out for a meal or go to the cinema, he is basically on duty- he has to be at home ready to go and be on site in 20 minutes or so so he cannot even leave home unless he is in his uniform and ready to go if he gets a call.

We didnt know if it was a legal thing that he would be paid whilst on call, or if it is just up to the company? If its up to the company he wont be getting a penny for his time!!!

Sambucus_Nigra

So - this close to being sacked - you are thinking of rocking the boat?

What does his contract say about 'on call payments'; didn't he just get a payrise with this new job? Isn't that to offset the pain of being on call?

stephbond89

no no no, he isnt on his new job yet- he is waiting for a course to come up before he can change sites as it is a construction site where he has never been before and he has to do a Health and Safety test before he can go there to make sure he is safe at work.

So he is on call for this weekend, and then I think back to floating work starting tomorrow, but at the minute he isnt getting paid a penny (only what thje site pays for a guard so it could be minimum wage or up to £7 an hour depending what site he is called to), but if he isnt called out, he gets no pay...this ciould go on for 4 weeks yet- we will only have £600 to live off in December because of the 2 weeks without work he has had.

Not going to say anything ot his bosses about it, they have been good not to fire him, but wondered for our own sake, what the minimum wage is for been oncall, if there is one. I thought he muight get £2 an hour or something, or a set £50 a day and night for been on call and then a "call out" of whatever per hour for however many hours. Just for us to know if we're going to have anything extra in our wages, as £600 to live off when you have £420 in rent to pay doesn't go very far...!

stephbond89

and his contract doesnt seem to say anything about it?

steve1980

If you are on call you only get paid once on the assignment, not for sitting on your backside at home watching the television or whilst asleep.

Check the terms of the contract as the company may have to pay a certain amount of hours per month at the NMW.

stephbond89

tar that was all i really wanted to know, his contract doesnt mention it, so im guessing its just however they're feeling...

its just the fact he asked for holidays for the time he isnt going to be on shift to ensure we have at least a little money coming in from those days he has missed- but his boss instead said he would put him on call, but he hasnt been called out all weekend, so its still resulted in no wages, Id have rather him been put on holidays and used up some of his holiday allowance!

Googlewhacker

tell your OH to request some holiday days to be used then.

As above, its good that he kept his job but I wouldn't be rocking the boat to much

steve1980

Don't forget that he probably has to give 28 days notice for all holiday requests, not a couple of hours.

stephbond89

think we'ree just going to leave it- as you say 28 days is usually the time needed for holidays to be processed . we'll get by somehoew

no-oneknowsme

stephbond89 wrote: »

Hi, I have posted a few things in the last few days, and now I need your help again!

My hubby has been put on top "on call" duties for the weekend (and I think the week)- meaning he gets a call out whenever a guard is needed on site (he's a security guard), he can be called at any time during the day or night and have to go to anywhere in the area to go on site until the shift ends and the relief guard shows up.

His boss didnt mention anyth8ing about wages, of course if he is called out, he will be paid £6.50 per hour that he is on the site, but we wanted to know if he gets any wages for being on call in the first place. He has had to give up his weekend- we can't go out, or go away, he cannot have a drink, we cannot go out for a meal or go to the cinema, he is basically on duty- he has to be at home ready to go and be on site in 20 minutes or so so he cannot even leave home unless he is in his uniform and ready to go if he gets a call.

We didnt know if it was a legal thing that he would be paid whilst on call, or if it is just up to the company? If its up to the company he wont be getting a penny for his time!!!

You say that money is so tight and that is why you are asking for advice..you say that you have £600 out of which you have to pay £420 rent and then you make the comment which i have highlighted above.....

If as you say money is tight then going away for the weekend , going out for a meal , going to the cinema of having a drink should not be on your list of priorities!

Dilema after dilema with you isnt it lol

stephbond89

not really the point. if we HAD had money- those would be things we couldn't do.