Private Service - On Call FULL TIME - 72/96 hour weeks PAY?!

[MediKME]

I work for a private transport service in the Midwest. The company I work for operates in both metropolitan and rural areas. The metro area runs 8 or 16 hour shifts and get paid per hour, no more than 40 hours per week, no on call. I work in the semi-rural (25-35 minutes from the metro) community where we supply ALS for the critical access hospitals in the area. Most of these hospitals are 35 minutes to 2 hours away from the metropolitan area. We are the only ALS crew for the entire county in which we are located and the only ALS crew that will transport to the metro, besides the flight team. For critical patient's, when the flight team is not available for transport due to call volume or weather, we are the only ALS transport in a much expanded area.

Traditionally, our other rural area stations are within 40 minutes of a level 3 trauma center with more specialties to treat critical patients, not critical access hospitals where the ER's have 4 rooms and 15 rooms on the floor - without specialists available other than the ER doctor or Physician Assistant. Crews that work at rural stations ON CALL have 15 minutes to respond to the station before being en route to the originating hospital. Typically, the crews live within 15 minutes of their station because they are truly rural - 1.5 + from the big metropolitan area.

The station that I am located at is close enough to the metro that of our 9 employees (5 full time, 4 part time), only 1 lives within the 15 minutes response time. Because we are a strictly ALWAYS ON CALL station we are required 3 - 24 hour shifts one week and 4 - 24 hour shifts the second week of the pay period. This comes to 72 and 96 hours a week. Full time employees get paid 40 hours a week. If the crew is to run more than 40 hours a week, then time/half is provided. Since we live further than the 15 minute response time, we have to stay at the station for the entire duration of the shift.

I am looking for feedback from other individuals who have experience with this type of schedule or who have input in general. Our station is in a difficult situation because we are "semi-rural". We find ourselves at our station for over half the week, every week, literally, because we are not in the response area. Though the company has searched, there are not many, if any, ALS or BLS providers locally that are willing to help staff the station.

Is this pay fair for the time we dedicate every week to the station?

 

[MonkeyArrow]

Well to me, it seems like the job requirement is that you be able to respond within 15 minutes, and because no one lives close enough, then you have to stay at the station. I would assume that you knew of this condition at the time of hire.

As to getting paid when you're not on call (per run or whatever), there are tons of opinions of that on this website, most of which people say that you should be compensated if you are on call.

 

[akflightmedic]

This is definitely a legal question for the most correct interpretation of the law.

From both an employer and employee perspective...you knew the deal when you took the job. I simply detest bait and switch employees...I would not do this to you as an employer, why would you do this as an employee? I know the answer already as it is usually a result of A) The employee thinking they would never be at that particular assignment so why bother and B) saying yes to anything just to have a job.
Both options are unfair and unethical.

As for YOUR situation....are you actually required to sit at the station or is that where you choose to go for most convenience? Because as you described it, you simply need to respond within 15 minutes so technically you could be parked in an RV at the McDs parking lot waiting for a call to drop. Now if the employer mandated you physically be in the station, then you are in effect no longer on call, you are working and should be paid. However, it you go there as a means of having a place to hang while waiting since your apartment is so far away, then you really have no leg to stand on.

If it were this concerning to me and if the metro were as close as you say, then I would find a place to live closer to the job because rent is usually cheaper in rural or semi-rural areas and then I would simply take the metro when I needed social interaction or whatever it is you do when not working. You have your priorities flipped.

 

[COmedic17]

I know the company you speak of.


I also know they have a long history of treating employees in this fashion and have had a few legal "hiccups" in the past.

I would just leave.

 

[COmedic17]

.............,,,Or just go work at the large station located in the middle of the much larger city where you have a regular schedule with no "on call" shifts.

 

[Tigger]

I have heard of this arrangement but have not worked it. There is an agency somewhat near us that used to do this but now pays their medics for their full shift so long as they live close to the station. The wages are not high however.

On one hand, you probably knew of this arrangement when you signed up. On the other, how expensive is it to actually just pay the crew to staff the station? It be nice to make the response time argument, but if you're doing mostly transfers that isn't going to fly.

Do you get paid to be on call at least?

 

[jwk]

Regardless of what people think is fair or not, or what they knew or didn't know when they were hired - there are wage and hour laws that deal with these situations, and if you are truly concerned about it and think it's not right, go see a labor attorney. You'd be surprised (or maybe wouldn't) at the abuses that take place. Years ago, a local hospital had respiratory therapists, hourly employees, that were "guaranteed" half an hour unpaid mealtime during their shift (scheduled for 8.5 hours minus the 30 minute meal break). However, they were constantly getting interrupted during their meal time for urgent patient care needs, which they happily did, but never got any credit for that reduced meal time. They filed a wage-and-hour action against the hospital and got thousands upon thousands of dollars in back OT with interest.

A lot of employers will get away with as much as they think they can get away with. Initial consultations with attorneys are often free, and if not, an hour of time divided among several of your co-workers won't amount to much and you'll find out what you want to know.

 

[rails]

What kind of call volume do you run?

You spend 4 x 24 hours at the station one week, and 3 x 24 hours at the station the other week -- seven total 24 hour shifts.

A lot of EMS agencies have crews work approximately five 24 hour shifts per pay period (it often ends up being actually 4.67 24 hour shifts per pay period when you average it out over six weeks). For these five-ish 24 hour shifts, you tend to run 3-6 calls per day (per 24 hours) on the light side of EMS, and perhaps 12 - 16 calls per day on the heavier side of EMS. These call volume numbers depend on your area, your EMS agency, etc.

Whether your arrangement is a good deal or a bad deal depends a lot on the call volume. Do you run 1 call/transfer per 24 hour shift on average? Is said call perhaps 1-3 hours total work? Or do you run 6 calls/transfers per 24 hours? Do you run a lot of long distance transfers?

I know some people who worked a similar arrangement down here and LOVED it, but they had incredibly low call volume. If the call volume had been moderate to high, they would likely have jumped ship.