'Call me on my days off? Guess you're paying me': Energy employee gets even with boss who won't stop bugging them on their days off

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    'I was required to drop what I was doing and... fix some issues'
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    Call me on my days off? I guess you're paying me for a call-out! Years ago, I worked in the energy industry. My location was manned by a single person, working 10-hour days, with 8 days on and 6 days off. In the off hours, automation kept things running. During those 8 days, I
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    was on call, so if there was a problem at the location, I was required to drop what I was doing and either log in to fix some issues or drive the 50 miles out to the facility to fix the problem. Company policy stated that if there was a call, regardless if it warranted a response to drive out, or if we could handle it remotely through our computer, we got paid for a minimum of 2 hours at time and a half.
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    After a particularly rough shift with lots of nights spent on location, I went on a much needed set of days off. On my first day off, my counterpart on the other shift called with questions about the problems I had had. I answered and went about resting. The next day, I decided to take a break and go off-grid for the day. When I
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    returned, I had a number of calls. from my boss. When I called him back, he reprimanded me and told me that I was an on-call employee so I need to answer when called. Annoyed, I just said ok but asked him to follow that up with an email which he did. We talked more about the problems for about 10 minutes
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    and hung up. That evening, my counterpart called 3 more times, and we talked through some ideas for fixing it. Over the next 4 days I had off, he, my boss, and others working on the issue called many times.
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    Now, Remember when my boss said I was an on-call employee and I was required to answer? I added each call to my timesheet. At the end of my 6 days off, I had made just as many hours as I would in my 8-day shift. At the end of the pay period, I was called into the office where he and the district manager demanded that I explain the
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    "Excessive callouts". I provided the email sent to me by my boss as well as the company policy for calls. They said that was a pretty wide interpretation of both. I countered and said that I had been called and I answered as required by my boss's email, so per policy, I was entitled to
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    callout pay. They disagreed and called in the Vice President, and HR who surprisingly, agreed with me. I was paid out for the time, and the rule became that you were only to call off duty employees in dire emergencies. I was never called on my days off again.
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    TTMM-2020 This is the way. Funny how they only respect your time when it shows up on their bottom line.
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    SalleighG Yup, if you are required to answer then you are on call. You were right.
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    imakesawdust So in your boss' worldview, you worked 8 days, off 6 but were expected to be on call all 14 days?
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    Quasirandom1234 Well played, and for once a reasonable HR ruling.
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    GovernorSan Honestly, it seems to me that if your superior can't do their job on your day off without calling you, they aren't qualified to be your superior.
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    eveningsand They disagreed and called in the Vice President, and HR who surprisingly, agreed with me. VP of HR was definitely protecting the company here. Paying you out was far cheaper than a lawsuit. VP saw the company had no leg to stand on.
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    illusorywallahead This is beautiful. You essentially had no true days off, so you made it too expensive for them to not give you true days off. And now you have days off. Well done friend. Hope you bought some fancy beer with your overtime pay to celebrate.

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