On-Call Pay
Title 38 for Nurses and Allied Health Employees
Purpose of Authority
To provide 24-hour coverage for medically necessary patient care or related services.
Who is Eligible?
Title 38 employees through the GS-12 level who are in designated occupations for which a Clinical Center department has an approved on-call plan. (See the Title 38 Occupational Coverage Chart.) Eligibility for use of on-call pay is extended to an occupation only after a needs determination has been made.
Provisions
On-call is a "special" Title 38 premium pay whereby an employee receives 10% of his/her basic overtime rate for each hour of on-call duty outside his/her regular work hours.
An employee who is on-call must be (1) accessible by telephone or beeper; (2) available to return to the worksite within a designated response time; and (3) in a physical condition that allows him/her to perform duty assignments.
In the event of incapacitation or unavailability during a period of on-call duty, an employee must promptly contact the designated supervisory official to be released from on-call duty.
On-call pay is suspended during periods of actual call-back to the worksite. On-call duty resumes after the call-back period is complete, if there is any scheduled on-call duty remaining.
Restrictions
Individual Clinical Center employees are limited to 176 hours of on-call duty in any pay period. Department Heads may authorize exceptions to this limit in extenuating circumstances.
Employees may not be scheduled for on-call duty during the same hours they are in a leave status. In the Clinical Center, an employee who has been on leave must return to work before being eligible to be placed in an on-call duty status.
Record-Keeping
When an employee returns to the Clinical Center for call-back duty, he/she must sign in and out, recording the date, time, reason for call-back, and the amount of call-back duty worked. Departments should maintain records of on-call and call-back service by their employees for a period of three years.
Approval Process for Use of On-Call Authority
Before employees can be scheduled for paid on-call duty, the occupation must be approved for on-call coverage and the Clinical Center department must develop and receive approval for plans outlining how, why, and when on-call will be used. The Clinical Center Director approves the application of on-call pay to an occupation and a department's plan for use of on-call pay.
Definitions
- Call-Back Work:
Work performed outside regular work hours for which an employee is required to (1) remain at the worksite at the end of the specified tour, (2) return to the worksite, or (3) report on a day for which he/she was not scheduled to work. - On-Call Pay Rate:
10% of overtime pay rate. - On-Call Duty:
Officially scheduled duty outside regular work hours during which an employee must be accessible by telephone or beeper and stands ready to return to the work site upon notification of need. - Overtime Pay Rate:
1.5 times hourly premium rate of pay (hourly premium rate = annual salary/2080).
