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ARTICLE · 26 SEPTEMBER 2025

How To Properly Compensate On-Call Employees

Wilentz, Goldman & Spitzer
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On-call employees are a convenient way to ensure business needs are met while the office is closed or during weekends and holidays.

United StatesEmployment and HR
Meghan Chrisner-Keefe
Meghan Chrisner-Keefe

On-call employees are a convenient way to ensure business needs are met while the office is closed or during weekends and holidays. It is important to ensure employers understand the legal implications and obligations of scheduling on-call employees, which includes two primary considerations: whether the time spent on-call is compensable and if so, the proper calculation of the compensation.

Last week's blog addressed the first consideration of whether time spent on-call is compensable.

Regarding the second consideration, an on-call employee may be compensated in one of three ways:

  1. Engaged to Wait - the on-call employee must be paid for their on-call time regardless of whether they are working

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