SHUTTERSTOCK ILLUSTRATION |
Engaged to wait or waiting to be engaged ?
You know , of course , that your hourly employees have to be paid for every hour worked and they have to receive overtime for working more than eight hours in a day or 40 hours in a week . That part is clear . But what about when the power goes out , and they can ’ t work ?
There are two different situations your employees could be in with a power outage , and the situation determines if you have to pay .
The first is when they are “ engaged to wait ” or , in California lingo , “ call back time .” If you expect them to be available to jump right back on the minute the power returns after a blackout , so they can ’ t leave the house , then you must pay them . They are waiting to be called back and not relieved of duty .
Their time isn ’ t their own . Consider it like a receptionist who has to stay at the desk regardless of whether there is a customer in the lobby . The receptionist may be surfing the web , reading a book or chatting on the phone with a friend , but can ’ t go home .
The second is “ waiting to be engaged ” or “ standby time .” In this situation , you say , “ Power is off . You are free to do what you want , and check back in three hours .” In this situation , even if the power turns back on , you can ’ t punish the employees for not being at their desks . They need to be free to do what they want to do . Legally , they don ’ t need to be paid for this time .
Create your policy
A few things could make sense , depending on your situation . If your work-at-home employees are spread throughout the state , a blackout in one area shouldn ’ t be too much of a hardship . If everyone is in the same region , you ’ ll have fewer blackouts to handle , but everyone will be out of work when you do .
Here ’ s what you need to think about ( besides the legal aspects ) when making your policies .
• Keeping your employees happy is very important . Your employees work for you because they need money . This
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means you probably need to err on the side of paying them even when you don ’ t legally have to .
• You can mix and match . For an unplanned blackout , say , “ We expect you to be ‘ engaged to wait ’ for the first hour . If the power comes back on , then great , back to work ! If not , you ’ re relieved after one hour and can come back for your next scheduled shift .” You pay for the first hour , but not the following ones .
• Give them a choice . Let them know that if they want to come back to work as soon as the power goes back , they can , but they don ’ t have to come back until their next scheduled shift . That way , they are relieved from work ( waiting to be engaged ), and you don ’ t have to pay them for time not working , but they can come back if the power comes back on to not miss out on as much lost pay .
• Let them make up hours missed due to power outages . Predictable , full paychecks are essential to your employees . Find a way to let them get all their hours in . ( Of course , employees working is critical to your business success as well , so this goes both ways !)
• Schedule around rolling blackouts . If the power outage is scheduled , work
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with your employees to create plans for them .
Most experts , including Cal Fire , predict that California ’ s 2022 fire season will be a tough one , and summer is sure to be hot — two situations that can lead to power outages . Planning and speaking with your employees before the blackouts is the best way to handle it when the lights — and computers — eventually go dark .
Suzanne Lucas spent 10 years in corporate human resources , where she hired , fired and managed the numbers and doublechecked with the lawyers . On Twitter @ RealEvilHRLady . Send questions to evilhrlady @ gmail . com .
What does your company do when the power goes out ?
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June 2022 | comstocksmag . com 25 |