Should retail employers compensate workers for canceled call in shifts?

Question

Making Victoria’s Secret Pay For Keeping Staff On Call

Answer

I used to work for a video store (no, not any of the ones that have gone under, but the one that is sill thriving at the cost of employees). We would have call in shifts that might last anywhere from a couple hours to six to eight hours. We had to call the store every hour (because labor info runs by the half hour and is estimated using the previous half hour) to find out if we needed to come in.

Even if we were needed, we might only work an hour. Or we might have to stay extra hours. It was extremely frustrating. And yes, I feel there should have been some sort of compensation. Or, at the very least, an employee being given the day off if not needed on the first call.

But, as this company doesn't even abide by existing labor laws, I highly doubt they would willing fairly compensate employees. So I really think any law put into place concerning this would probably be avoided by just not scheduling the shift to begin with.

Answer

I think it would be reasonable to compensate employees for sacrificing their day to be available.... When I used to be on call I was paid $3/hr to be available within 30 min. It was actually annoying and complicated my life a lot. If I wanted to go for a run on call nights I'd have to run in little circles around the neighborhood in case I got paged. It interfered with vacation scheduling too. I don't think call in shifts are quite as constraining as that, but it's not as though they don't obligate employees to sacrifice some amount of their time. If the company doesn't want to compensate for it, maybe people should reconsider working for them.

Should retail employers compensate workers for canceled call in shifts?

The Top Baby Tracker App: Embrace New Beginnings with Tender Care

The Top Fertility Tracker App: Your Path to Achieving Pregnancy

The Top Pregnancy App: Nurturing Your Journey to Motherhood

The Top Period Tracker for Empowering Your Menstrual Health Journey