Retailers probed for "on call shifts"

[brahmanknight]

Workers find out if they are scheduled for work just hours or the night before the start of a shift. If they are told to stay home, employees are not paid.



Such erratic schedules make it difficult for employees to manage their family needs such as child care or school schedules, according to the letter. It says workers on these shifts "experience adverse financial and health effects, as well as overall stress and strain on family life."



Schneiderman's office says it has received reports that a growing number of major retailers are using these on call systems to manage staff levels so they have more people when it's busy and fewer when its slow.



New York law requires employers to pay workers at least four hours of minimum wage if employees report for a scheduled shift.

link

 

[Good Knight Sweetheart]

"Thanks Obama"

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[EweSeaEff]

I read this yesterday and thought back to when I was 16/17/18 and worked at the local movie theater (a national chain). I was on-call so many times it was ridiculous. Then, as I advanced (?) into management and started generating schedules I would schedule 4-5 people on Friday nights and Saturday nights as on-call. Then, when I was going to UCF I worked at the Target at Waterford Lakes and I would have at least one on-call shift per week. It truly does suck - both having been scheduled and having to schedule on-call people who work hourly as it is - all in the name of saving a few bucks in payroll.

 

[brahmanknight]

I've never heard of on call shifts until this debate started in the last year. Other than doctors.

 

[CommuterBob]

Originally posted by EweSeaEff:
I read this yesterday and thought back to when I was 16/17/18 and worked at the local movie theater (a national chain). I was on-call so many times it was ridiculous. Then, as I advanced (?) into management and started generating schedules I would schedule 4-5 people on Friday nights and Saturday nights as on-call. Then, when I was going to UCF I worked at the Target at Waterford Lakes and I would have at least one on-call shift per week. It truly does suck - both having been scheduled and having to schedule on-call people who work hourly as it is - all in the name of saving a few bucks in payroll.

We used to do this when I worked in the pizza delivery business. We would have on-call drivers for unexpected rushes. We didn't do it very often, but if we had a big promotion going on or if we knew the weather was going to be bad. But never once did we treat being on-call like being on a regular shift. If we called and the employee wasn't available, we didn't count it against them. We did call-ins for those not scheduled a lot, but we didn't make on-call a regular practice.

Even for doctors and nurses, I think this practice is reprehensible, unless those staff are paid (at a lower rate at minimum) for being on-call. If you are obligated by your employer, you should be paid for it.

 

[Game_Day_Sports]

When I worked big box retail, we would have our comp numbers so we would have an idea when we wrote the schedule which days would pop for us. We'd schedule heavy and if the weather screwed us or the pop just wasn't there, we would start cutting people. So some people would come in for an hour and get cut.

Most of the hourly workers were happy to go home. We would keep our salary guys and if the pop came late, those poor bastards would have to do the work of 3 people each.

 

[UCFKnight85]

Originally posted by CommuterBob:

Originally posted by EweSeaEff:
I read this yesterday and thought back to when I was 16/17/18 and worked at the local movie theater (a national chain). I was on-call so many times it was ridiculous. Then, as I advanced (?) into management and started generating schedules I would schedule 4-5 people on Friday nights and Saturday nights as on-call. Then, when I was going to UCF I worked at the Target at Waterford Lakes and I would have at least one on-call shift per week. It truly does suck - both having been scheduled and having to schedule on-call people who work hourly as it is - all in the name of saving a few bucks in payroll.

We used to do this when I worked in the pizza delivery business. We would have on-call drivers for unexpected rushes. We didn't do it very often, but if we had a big promotion going on or if we knew the weather was going to be bad. But never once did we treat being on-call like being on a regular shift. If we called and the employee wasn't available, we didn't count it against them. We did call-ins for those not scheduled a lot, but we didn't make on-call a regular practice.

Even for doctors and nurses, I think this practice is reprehensible, unless those staff are paid (at a lower rate at minimum) for being on-call. If you are obligated by your employer, you should be paid for it.

Eh, hold on a minute.

Putting people on call to deliver a few more pizzas is one thing. Having hospital staff on call in case more people than usual are at risk of dying due to lack of staff is quite another. If I was transported to a hospital with critical injuries, and the hospital was full, I'd sure as shit hope there was on call staff to come in.

Also, I don't know if this is uniform, but my sister was paid for being on-call and received 1.5x pay if she had to report.

 

[NinjaKnight]

Bunch of whiny ass bitches.

 

[CommuterBob]

Originally posted by UCFKnight85:

Originally posted by CommuterBob:

Originally posted by EweSeaEff:
I read this yesterday and thought back to when I was 16/17/18 and worked at the local movie theater (a national chain). I was on-call so many times it was ridiculous. Then, as I advanced (?) into management and started generating schedules I would schedule 4-5 people on Friday nights and Saturday nights as on-call. Then, when I was going to UCF I worked at the Target at Waterford Lakes and I would have at least one on-call shift per week. It truly does suck - both having been scheduled and having to schedule on-call people who work hourly as it is - all in the name of saving a few bucks in payroll.

We used to do this when I worked in the pizza delivery business. We would have on-call drivers for unexpected rushes. We didn't do it very often, but if we had a big promotion going on or if we knew the weather was going to be bad. But never once did we treat being on-call like being on a regular shift. If we called and the employee wasn't available, we didn't count it against them. We did call-ins for those not scheduled a lot, but we didn't make on-call a regular practice.

Even for doctors and nurses, I think this practice is reprehensible, unless those staff are paid (at a lower rate at minimum) for being on-call. If you are obligated by your employer, you should be paid for it.

Eh, hold on a minute.

Putting people on call to deliver a few more pizzas is one thing. Having hospital staff on call in case more people than usual are at risk of dying due to lack of staff is quite another. If I was transported to a hospital with critical injuries, and the hospital was full, I'd sure as shit hope there was on call staff to come in.

Also, I don't know if this is uniform, but my sister was paid for being on-call and received 1.5x pay if she had to report.

No doubt. But the lack of staff is an administrative decision to purposefully understaff to save labor costs. I do not agree that those sorts of practices should be employed when it comes to critical care. Plus, even with on-call staff, it takes time for those people to get in to work. It's not like they are waiting in the break room.

 

[UCFKnight85]

Originally posted by CommuterBob:

Originally posted by UCFKnight85:

Originally posted by CommuterBob:

Originally posted by EweSeaEff:
I read this yesterday and thought back to when I was 16/17/18 and worked at the local movie theater (a national chain). I was on-call so many times it was ridiculous. Then, as I advanced (?) into management and started generating schedules I would schedule 4-5 people on Friday nights and Saturday nights as on-call. Then, when I was going to UCF I worked at the Target at Waterford Lakes and I would have at least one on-call shift per week. It truly does suck - both having been scheduled and having to schedule on-call people who work hourly as it is - all in the name of saving a few bucks in payroll.

We used to do this when I worked in the pizza delivery business. We would have on-call drivers for unexpected rushes. We didn't do it very often, but if we had a big promotion going on or if we knew the weather was going to be bad. But never once did we treat being on-call like being on a regular shift. If we called and the employee wasn't available, we didn't count it against them. We did call-ins for those not scheduled a lot, but we didn't make on-call a regular practice.

Even for doctors and nurses, I think this practice is reprehensible, unless those staff are paid (at a lower rate at minimum) for being on-call. If you are obligated by your employer, you should be paid for it.

Eh, hold on a minute.

Putting people on call to deliver a few more pizzas is one thing. Having hospital staff on call in case more people than usual are at risk of dying due to lack of staff is quite another. If I was transported to a hospital with critical injuries, and the hospital was full, I'd sure as shit hope there was on call staff to come in.

Also, I don't know if this is uniform, but my sister was paid for being on-call and received 1.5x pay if she had to report.

No doubt. But the lack of staff is an administrative decision to purposefully understaff to save labor costs. I do not agree that those sorts of practices should be employed when it comes to critical care. Plus, even with on-call staff, it takes time for those people to get in to work. It's not like they are waiting in the break room.

Most hospital policies are that you must be within 25 minutes of arriving at the hospital if called into work. It doesn't take them long to increase personnel.

 

[HuffyCane]

It's illegal in some states.

It is a growing practices in some sectors, such as retail, who need to avoid employees going over the 40 hour limit so that they aren't counted as full time employees who must be counted towards Obamacare.

As explained above in part, you schedule a set number of full time people and a set number of part time people to cover a daily shift at the lowest possible price. You wait and see if conditions make it necessary for you to call in additional people. You can't risk bringing in someone who is part time who will go over the limit, so you keep a larger pool of part-time people waiting around to see if they get any work. Amazon order fulfillment is famous for shafting people for years with promises of full time employment with benefits while keeping them in the part time pool forever.

If you got a full time job with benefits and you are working a second job, then staying on call is a good deal. If you are working three part time jobs to feed your kids, it is somewhere between slavery and exploitation, depending on where you live.

We've done it for years in the bar business, but we tell people up front what the deal is when we've made a decision to hire and if they aren't cool with it, we add them to the list of call backs when their is an opening full time. And we do actually call people back. I will usually call somebody over from the floor to explain to the interviewee how they got hired originally to prove it since I wouldn't believe a stranger who said they would actually keep a resume on file. For the security guys and bar backs, most of them are just working for extra money, so they are cool with it. If they don't get called in by midnight, then they know they can go out and party. It gets more dicey with the cocktailers and drink slingers, because most of them are looking for a full time gig or need to feed their drug habit. They all also think that they are better than who ever is scheduled to work. They start bitchin quickly if they are on call and don't get called in. Of course, few of them say thank you when they clear a $1000.00 on game days, but that's people for you.

This post was edited on 4/14 3:54 PM by HuffyCane

This post was edited on 4/14 3:58 PM by HuffyCane

 

[Good Knight Sweetheart]

Originally posted by Game_Day_Sports:
When I worked big box retail, we would have our comp numbers so we would have an idea when we wrote the schedule which days would pop for us. We'd schedule heavy and if the weather screwed us or the pop just wasn't there, we would start cutting people. So some people would come in for an hour and get cut.

Most of the hourly workers were happy to go home. We would keep our salary guys and if the pop came late, those poor bastards would have to do the work of 3 people each.

Had this at a call-center job. If the day was slow, they would let people go home early...usually on a volunteer basis. People would put in their request as soon as they logged in for work if they were interested in the "Same Day Time Off". Then if it was slow, they granted the requests in the order asked. Made everyone happy, since the people who were let go early wanted to go.

Only once did our department have no volunteers. That day, we drew names out a hat.