• On-call workers are regulated by state laws and the Fair Labor Standards Act.suspicious cell phone man image by Brett Mulcahy from Fotolia.com
  
  On-call work is regulated by federal and state employment agencies. Documents such as the Fair Labor Standards Act regulate on-call work policies nationally. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts supplements the federal laws with its own laws, which offer protections for both the employer and employee. The state laws also give on-call workers legal mechanisms to address a labor complaint.
  
  

Fair Labor Standards Act

• Massachusetts follows the guidelines of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Under this act, on-call work is defined as work where the employee is contacted by his employer outside of the place of employment. The hours when the worker is on-call are not considered normal work hours if the worker is able to enjoy free time, leisure or the worker is at his home. If the worker is on call for three hours at his own home, those three hours are not paid. However, if the worker is contacted to perform work duties and travels to his place of employment or to a work site, the on-call worker is paid for the amount of time he works from that call.
  
  

Restrictions and Guidelines

• Employers must know that demands or restrictions on the worker during on-call time is considered work. If the employer demands that the worker must be within a certain distance from work while on-call, the worker is entitled to pay, even while waiting for calls. Also, if the worker is required to call back within a certain amount of time of a call, that amount of time is considered work. Time spent traveling to work for on-call is also compensated. Reporting to service calls at different work sites or reporting to work within a set amount of time requires compensation from the employer.
  
  

Division of Occupational Safety

• Massachusetts supplements the federal law with its own state law under the Division of Occupational Safety. The state argues that paged workers are regulated under the Fair Labor Standards Act. The Division of Occupational Safety agrees that if a paged worker is at her home, she should not be paid. However, as soon as the pager goes off for a work call, the worker is entitled to his pay.
  
  

Legal Action

• Any worker that can document a wage violation under the Fair Labor Standards act should contact the Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor. Companies that are found guilty must pay the worker her regular pay or overtime plus a penalty toward the federal government. For Massachusetts residents, the worker can contact the attorney general's office.