SPRINGDALE — City employees weighted down by being on call will be compensated.
The City Council approved last week paying employees $15 per day when they are required to be on call after normal work hours. If an employee is called in to work, he or she will be paid regular hourly rates, including overtime when it applies, said Wyman Morgan, city director of administration and financial services.
The rule applies to animal control officers, workers in the Information Technology Department and Public Works Signalization Division employees.
“It’s been a burden for those departments,” said Mayor Doug Sprouse. “They do not have very many people to split up the time.”
The cost will be about $16,000 per year, Morgan said.
Information technology employees are on call at night for a week, said Mark Gutte, director. Those on call have restrictions while away from work, he said. They must be available for a phone call, stay within 45 minutes’ drive time of the city and be able to perform work duties.
“It nails your foot down,” said Austin Favorite, an analyst for the department. “In the last five years, I’ve been on call three Christmases. That means we couldn’t travel to visit family.”
Employees required to remain at their employer’s premises for calls are working, according to a fact sheet from the federal Wage and Hour Division of the Department of Labor. Employees who leave notice where they can be reached are not working, according to the sheet. Additional constraints on the employee’s freedom could require this time to be compensated.
Courtney Kremer, director of animal services, was on call earlier this year when the department was short-handed.
“It can disrupt your night,” Kremer said. “It’s hard to go to a movie knowing you could be called at any time.”
Animal control officers rotate on-call duty during a week, Kremer said, to make sure no worker will have to be on call on a night when they were off during the day. The schedule calls for workers to be on call two days a week for two weeks, then work three days the next week.
Four workers split the on-call duties at signalization, said Dub Janczys, supervisor.
AT A GLANCE
Springdale City Employees In Selected Departments
Numbers reflect employees approved in the annual budget, not those actually on the payroll.
Department20142013*2012
Animal Control1313*12
Fire118118*117
Information Technology55*4
Police187186*173
Public Works Signalization55*5
Source: City Of Springdale
Each are on call one week a month. On-call pay is nearly a standard for signalization crews in other cities, he said.
Other departments are looking at the requirements for their personnel, to see if the rule should apply there also, Morgan said.
“I’m open to looking at any department that has on-call workers,” Sprouse said.
The police and fire departments may be the only other areas that have on-call employees with off-duty restrictions, Morgan said.
In the Police Department, detectives and their supervisors are on call, said Kathy O’Kelley, police chief.
The supervisors, sergeants in the Criminal Investigation Division, are on call every three weeks, said Capt. Richard Farris. Ten detectives were taking turns being on call for a week at a time, he said.
“The detectives are getting called out six to eight times per week,” O’Kelley said. “That was adding so many cases to a detective at one time that it was unmanageable.”
The detectives now rotate being on call daily.
The duty was a big burden for detectives, Farris said, who might have to go to a crime scene immediately.
“If they go out to eat with their families, they would take two cars,” Farris said. “That way, the family members wouldn’t be stranded.”
On-call pay for those employees would cost about $19,000 per year, O’Kelley said.
Other police department members can be called out, including accident reconstructionists, hostage negotiators and Special Weapons And Tactics team members, O’Kelley said.
Those employees, however, do not have restrictions while they are off duty, O’Kelley said. A small stipend, possibly $300 per year, might be proposed for those employees, she said.
In the Fire Department, Duane Miller, fire marshal, or his assistant, Capt. Pat Lee, are on call to respond to fire scenes, said Mike Irwin, fire chief. Miller responds to all fire calls unless he is out of town, with Lee responding in those cases, Irwin said.
“If we do get on-call pay, we might restructure that schedule,” Irwin said.
Rogers does not pay for on-call duty, said Casey Wilhelm, director of finance for the city.
“It’s an interesting concept,” Wilhelm said. “I’ll be interested to see how that works out.”
The pay for being on call is not huge, but it is appreciated, said Favorite, Springdale’s technology analyst.
“It’s an acknowledgement that what we do is worthwhile,” Favorite said.