Can My Employer Force Me to Be on Call In California? Your employer can't force you to sign up for a shift. However, they can make it a requirement for your continued employment. If you accept a position in an industry where these shifts are the norm, an employer will expect you to do your share of on-call time.
Time spent on call can count as working time if the worker is doing work that their employer requires them to do under their employment contract. This might be at the workplace or at a different location, such as working from their own home or at a client's property.
The on-call duty can be for a specific job or task, or it can be general. An employee on call is not working but is required to be available to work if needed. It means that the employee can be called into work at any time, even outside their regular work hours.
The on-call duty can be for a specific job or task, or it can be general. An employee on call is not working but is required to be available to work if needed. It means that the employee can be called into work at any time, even outside their regular work hours.
Thus, on its face, the WARN Act and its regulations do not appear to contemplate truly remote workers who have a fixed place of work (their homes).
In most cases, when a remote worker from one state has an employer in another state, the state where they reside has jurisdiction, meaning they follow the labor laws of the state where they live regardless of where their employer is located.
Contrary to Oracle's assertions, the California Labor Code is clearly intended to apply to work done in California by nonresidents. The California Supreme Court has concluded that California's employment laws govern all work performed within the state, regardless of the residence or domicile of the worker.
The Professional Exemption sets out eight specific professions (law, medicine, dentistry, optometry, architecture, engineering, teaching, and accounting) that are exempt from the first 12 sections of the Wage Orders. It also addresses certain other professions, including nurses, pharmacists and software coders.
Q: What Are the Labor Laws for On-Call Shifts in California? A: Labor laws for on-call shifts are essentially the same as labor laws for any other type of work, except where explicit differences are laid out by law. Generally, California law treats on-call hours much the same as any other working hours.
The 1-7, 8-14 Rule. If an employee's time falls between 1-7 minutes, it can be rounded down. However, if it's between 8 and 14 minutes, employers must round it up, counting it as a quarter-hour of work.