As a non-exempt employee in California, you may be entitled to “on-call” (“standby” pay) for hours spent not working but still under your employer’s control.
You must receive at least the minimum wage for on-call time. Your on-call hours also count towards overtime.
In this article, I go over everything you need to know about on-call pay in California employment law, including special rules for healthcare workers, and what to do if your employer is not paying up.
How does “on-call” time work?
On-call time (also called “standby time”) is time you spend under your employer’s control but not actually working. While you may not perform any of your job duties, you cannot do anything you want.
Some examples of on-call time include:
- restaurant workers who are told to be available for a dinner rush,
- a nurse who must return to work within 15 minutes of being called in by her boss,
- security guards who have to be on the premises in order to respond to disturbances, and
- coroners who must investigate deaths within 24 hours.
In all of these examples, the worker is not working, but they have to be ready to work with short notice. This greatly restricts their choice of activities while being on call.
What is my on-call pay?
You should expect to receive your regular rate of pay for your on-call time unless your employment contract provides for a reduced on-call pay amount.
If you are a non-exempt employee, the least you can be paid is minimum wage for “hours worked.”1 An “hour worked” is any time you are under your boss’s control, even if you are not technically working.2 This covers on-call time.3
How do I know if I am on-call?
According to the California Supreme Court, there are eight factors that help determine whether your employer is exerting enough control over you for the time to be “work.” These are:
- whether you were required to live on the premises or work site,
- whether there were excessive geographical restrictions on your movements,
- whether the frequency of calls back to work was unduly restrictive,
- whether your fixed time for response was unduly restrictive,
- whether you could easily trade your on-call responsibilities with a co-worker,
- whether using a pager would ease the restrictions,
- whether you actually engaged in personal activities during the time spent on-call, and
- whether the time on call is primarily spent for the employer and its business.4
In short, the more control your employer exerts, the more likely you should get paid for it.
Example: Los Angeles firefighters who are required to be in the station to respond to a call were under sufficient control for the time to be working hours, even though they could largely do what they wanted while there.5
Example: Service representatives for a healthcare company in San Francisco were not entitled to on-call pay when they had to respond to phone calls within 30 minutes and sometimes make on-site visits within 2 hours. They could also trade on-call responsibilities and often performed personal activities during calls.6
Special Rules for Healthcare Workers
If you are a non-exempt healthcare employee in California, federal law rather than state law determines whether your on-call time is “hours worked.”7 The federal Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) looks at two factors:
- your employment contract and
- the degree to which you are free to engage in personal activities.8
Federal law also states you should be paid for being on-call if you are required to remain on your employer’s premises or very close to them.9
These rules apply no matter whether you are working in:
- hospitals,
- skilled nursing facilities,
- intermediate and residential care facilities,
- convalescent care institutions,
- home health agencies,
- 24-hour clinics, and
- clinics that perform:
- surgery,
- urgent care,
- radiology,
- anesthesiology,
- pathology,
- neurology, or
- dialysis. 10
Does on-call time count toward overtime pay?
Generally, yes, work hours from on-call time count towards calculating your overtime. As a non-exempt employee, you are entitled to one-and-a-half your regular rate of pay for working more than:
- 8 hours in a workday,
- 40 hours in a workweek, or
- 6 consecutive days in a workweek.11
You can also get double-time pay, at twice your regular hourly rate, for working more than:
- 12 hours in a single workday, or
- 8 hours on the 7th consecutive day in a workweek.12
These “hours worked” include time on-call. However, there are some limited exceptions: For example, ambulance drivers and their attendants on a 24-hour shift can agree, in writing, to exclude sleeping and meal periods from “hours worked.”13
What if I am not getting paid for on-call time?
If your employer in California is not paying for your on-call time, you can file a wage complaint with the Labor Commissioner’s Office at the Division of Labor Standards Enforcement (DLSE). They will then investigate your case and can order your boss to pay you, though you will also have the opportunity to settle instead.
Another option is suing your employer for unpaid wages. Many of these cases become class actions since your employer is likely underpaying your co-workers as well.
Before taking either of these options, it is important to consult with an employment lawyer.
California Law vs. Federal Law
As a non-exempt worker, you must get paid for on-call time under both California law and federal law. However, California courts tend to have a broader view of what counts as on-call time.
To determine what constitutes “hours worked,” California courts examine eight factors (discussed above). Meanwhile, the federal U.S. Department of Labor says,
“Whether hours spent on-call is hours worked is a question of fact to be decided on a case-by-case basis.”
Therefore, whether call time is “hours worked” – and therefore payable – is a little more unpredictable under federal law since its analysis is so fact-based.”14
Additional Reading
For more in-depth information, refer to these scholarly articles:
- Reforming the Fair Labor Standards Act: Recognizing On-Call Time as a Distinct Category of Compensable Work – University of San Francisco Law Review.
- On-Call Time under the Fair Labor Standards Act – Michigan Law Review.
- Achieving Justice for On-Call Workers: Amending the Fair Labor Standards Act – Iowa Law Review.
- On-call and On-demand Work in the USA: Adversarial Regulation in a Context of Unilateral Control – Work, Organization, Employment.
- The Relationship of On-Call Work with Fatigue, Work-Home Interference, and Perceived Performance Difficulties – BioMed Research International.
Legal References:
- 8 California Code of Regulations (CCR) 11040(4)(B) (also known as the Industrial Welfare Commission (IWC) Wage Order No. 4-2001). See also Villalva v. Bombardier Mass Transit Corp. (Cal.App. 2025) .
- 8 CCR 11040(2)(K).
- Same.
- Mendiola v. CPS Security Solutions, Inc. (2015) 60 Cal.4th 833.
- Armour & Co. v. Wantock (1944) 65 S.Ct. 165.
- Gomez v. Lincare, Inc. (2009) 173 Cal.App.4th 508.
- 8 CCR 11040(2)(K).
- Owens v. Local No. 169, Association of Western Pulp and Paper Workers (9th Cir. 1992) 971 F.2d 347 and 29 CFR 785.14.
- 29 CFR 785.17.
- 8 CCR 11040(2)(J).
- California Labor Code 510 LAB.
- California Labor Code 510 LAB.
- 8 CCR 11090(3)(K).
- See notes 4, 7, 8, & 9.
