Infrastructure & operations
Building maintenance & facilities: on-call and on-premises time
The short answer
Facilities and maintenance staff on call for floods, outages, and lockouts are owed pay whenever the employer's restrictions block personal use of the time under 29 C.F.R. § 785.17, and staff who live on site are covered by a separate reasonable-agreement rule in 29 C.F.R. § 785.23. California counts all time subject to employer control as hours worked under IWC Wage Order 5-2001 § 2(K).
Resident managers and on-site staff
Employees who reside on the premises need not be paid for every hour there, but any agreement must reasonably reflect the hours actually worked under 29 C.F.R. § 785.23. California regulates lodging credits and requires a voluntary written agreement under Cal. Lab. Code § 1182.12 and the applicable wage order.
After-hours calls and radius rules
A requirement to arrive within 15 or 30 minutes, plus frequent tenant emergencies, favors compensability under 29 C.F.R. § 785.17 and Renfro v. City of Emporia, 948 F.2d 1529 (10th Cir. 1991). A loose phone-carrying arrangement generally does not, per Bright v. Houston Northwest Medical Center, 934 F.2d 671 (5th Cir. 1991).
Recordkeeping
Employers must record all hours worked under 29 U.S.C. § 211(c) and 29 C.F.R. § 516.2; missing records shift the proof burden under Tyson Foods, Inc. v. Bouaphakeo, 577 U.S. 442 (2016).
Facts that usually decide these cases
- Living on site with unclear off-duty hours
- Short arrival requirements for tenant emergencies
- Frequent overnight interruptions
- No time records for after-hours calls
Weighed together under the framework of Owens v. Local No. 169, 971 F.2d 347 (9th Cir. 1992): Geographic restriction — how far you may travel while on call; Response time — how many minutes you have to answer or arrive; Call frequency — how often the phone actually rings; Personal interference — what the rotation stops you from doing; Trade or refusal rights — whether you can hand the shift off.
Frequently asked questions
- I live on site. Am I on the clock all the time?
- Not necessarily: for employees residing on the premises, a reasonable written agreement may define working hours under 29 C.F.R. § 785.23, but it must reflect the hours actually worked, which the employer must record under 29 U.S.C. § 211(c).
- Do overnight tenant calls have to be paid?
- Yes, the time spent handling them is work time, and if the standby restrictions are severe the whole period may be compensable under 29 C.F.R. § 785.17.
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