At Centerspace we serve others.  Our commitment to our residents’ wellbeing and satisfaction in their homes requires that we are available when emergencies happen in their homes and at our communities. We know that our team members are sacrificing time with their families and other commitments when participating in the on-call rotation and it is important we compensate them well for the time they spend serving our communities in off-hours.  


Purpose 

On-Call Pay is compensation for a team member who must remain available to be called back to work on short notice if the need arises. It is also compensation for a team member who has left the work site and is requested to respond by telephone or computer on short notice to an emergency work situation. 


Eligibility 

All full-time or part-time regular non-exempt team members who are qualified to respond to on-call emergencies are eligible for on-call pay and the weekly stipend. Exempt team members who are on call and responding to emergencies are eligible for the weekly stipend but not the on-call pay.   


Rate of Pay 

Reporting to Property: If a team member is called back to work while on call, they will be paid 1.5 times their regular rate of pay, including travel time. A minimum of 2 hours will be paid for reporting to a property, to address an emergency. Team members are expected to report to the property within 60 minutes from the time emergency was reported.  


Responding to Emergency Call: If an on-call team member is not required to report to the property but answers the emergency phone while on call, they will be paid a minimum of 1 hour or for the entire time spent on the phone, whichever is greater, paid at 1.5 times of regular rate of pay. 


On-call hours are subject to approval by the manager and are paid in accordance with the regular payroll schedule.  


Weekly Stipend 

In addition to hourly pay at 1.5 times for on-call worked hours, eligible on-call team members will receive a weekly stipend at a flat rate. Team members who are included on the weekly on-call rotation schedule are considered eligible for the weekly stipend. The on-call weekly stipend can vary from $100 to $150 per week based on the complexity, size, and location of the properties. If a team member covers multiple on-call groups, they are eligible to receive more than one stipend, subject to approval from a Regional Director.  


Split weeks:  In the event that team members need to change who is on call midweek, the weekly stipend will be paid to the team member who worked more than half of the week.   


Holiday weeks: An additional $50 will be added to the weekly stipend amount during the weeks that include a company-recognized holiday.  


Weekly stipends are subject to approval by the manager and are paid in accordance with the regular payroll schedule.  


Guidelines  

  • Evaluate the “emergency.”  Could this be done during regular business hours?  If yes, discuss this with the resident and agree on the timing the work can be done.  If it is a true emergency, take action. 
  • Complete a call back sheet to document the emergency and time worked.  Managers should enter time worked using the appropriate “On-Call” pay codes in UKG Time Management as well as the reasons for the on-call hours.  
  • On-call schedules should work for the region.  Teams should work together to determine how to schedule this and get final approval from the Regional Director.  There are times that teams may be asked to work longer than their normal schedule to accommodate special needs of the community; this policy is intended to compensate for those times. 
  • Because on-call time is already paid at a premium rate, on-call hours are not included towards hours worked for overtime.  Example: The team member worked 2 hours on-call on Monday and 2 hours on-call on Tuesday, so the team member is paid 4 hours at 1.5 times their regular rate of pay at this point in the week. Overtime doesn’t start until team member has reached 44 hours for the week because those 4 on-call hours have already been paid at a premium. 
  • Overtime must be approved in advance.  Some situations are unavoidable, so we are trusting you to do the right thing.  We should balance the needs of the community with the cost of potential overtime.  Sometimes overtime can be managed by reducing the remainder of hours scheduled for the week.  If reducing the hours of work already scheduled will put the site in jeopardy of a missed make ready apartment or completing critical work orders it might not make sense to reduce the hours of work. 


Managers of non-exempt team members should review all emergency calls and overtime worked.  Overtime needs to be managed not only for financial impact but also because of work life balance considerations.  Helpful ways to manage overtime and on-call hours include: 

  • Look for operational opportunities to reduce the number of on-call hours and overtime. 
  • Look at the nature of the emergency and determine if we could defer to the next business day. 
  • Look at the timing of emergency needs and overtime.  Could we modify work schedules to better accommodate the needs of our residents? 
  • Look at the overtime worked and determine if work was necessary to be done or could it wait. 
  • Look at the workload and determine if overtime would be a better financial decision than outsourcing to a vendor. 


Termination or Modification of the Policy 

Centerspace reserves the right to amend or terminate this policy at any time and may revoke approval if a team member is found to be misusing the program.