What's expected of employers, employees during blizzards?
Q: I am a non-exempt health care worker and am confused as to my obligations when inclement weather such as hurricanes and snowstorms is predicted. In the past, the hourly staff have been required to spend the night to either make sure we had enough staff to take care of our residents or to ensure we were at our shift on time. We were offered a place to sleep at the facility but were only paid for our eight-hour shift, even though we might be there 24 hours or longer.
While I trust my boss, I think the company we work for takes advantage. Therefore, I need to know legally what I am required/expected to do.
A: February is a historically bad month for blizzards, so this is a good time to review what employers and employees - not just in health care - can expect of each other during dangerous storms. If you're not working under a contract or in a state that sets forth inclement-weather policies, it all comes down to what you're entitled to under the federal Fair Labor Standards Act.
Workers exempt from the FLSA - those not entitled to overtime pay, including most managers - don't get extra pay for spending extra hours at the workplace. For non-exempt workers such as you, according to employment law specialist Michael Frantz of Cleveland-based Frantz Ward, it depends on whether, in the Labor Department's words, you are "waiting to be engaged" or are "engaged to wait" during that overnight stay.
In other words, says Frantz, "Is the time yours? Can you do whatever you want to do during that time even though you're being asked to stay [on the premises]?" If the time is yours to enjoy - as much as anyone can "enjoy" a workplace sleepover - then you're waiting to be engaged, and those hours are not considered compensable work time. The employer is essentially ensuring that you can meet your obligation to start your shift on time. But if you are required to work during that time as the need arises - even if your employer passively "suffers or permits" you to work of your own accord - then you're engaged to wait, and that is time you probably should be paid for.
Frantz notes that although "most medical centers do provide for some on-call pay" in situations like yours, the question of whether they're legally required to do so is "very fact-specific."
I'd recommend keeping careful track of your hours if you unexpectedly end up tending to patients outside your scheduled shift. And I hope anyone who needs your help during a weather emergency is appropriately grateful to you for being there. It's the least you're entitled to.
Thanks also to Kelly Trautner, director of the Nurses and Health Professionals division of the American Federation of Teachers, and Declan Leonard of Berenzweig Leonard.
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PRO TIP: When a worker is engaged to wait on-site for longer than 24 hours, the employer and employee can agree to exempt from pay "bona fide regularly scheduled sleeping periods" of up to eight hours. In that case, the employer must provide adequate sleeping facilities that allow the worker to get at least five hours of sleep.
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Ask Karla Miller about your work dramas and traumas by emailing wpmagazine@washpost.com.