RyanKJones
Junior Member
What is the name of your state? Kansas
Hello.
I work for a Courier Service. I am the Overnight Dispatcher. My shift is typically from 11pm-7am Sunday-Thursday. Recently they cut my shift by 3 hours a night, They say it is just until the end of December. I have a wide variety of duties. The Company employs a few employees overnight, I am the only one at the warehouse all night. The others are hourly paid drivers that drive box trucks on line haul routes. There are also Independent Contractors that have local routes most of those are 6 days a week. I am mostly there to keep the place open for the other drivers to come in and out to pickup and drop things off, Answer the phones, and then I am the only one there that is assigned cleaning duties. I am also responsible for setting up the scanners for the drug routes (similar system to signing for a package from UPS).
For one of the drug companies, we do stat deliveries. These are deliveries which must be picked up at the pharmacy within 30 minutes of being called in and then delivered within 90 minutes of that. The only exception to that is if it takes longer than that to drive to the delivery location. These calls get called in 24 hours a day. When it is during my shift I am to try to call an IC to do that stat. We have about a dozen IC’s. Frequently I am unable to confirm a driver to do stats because they will either be on a route already and unable to meet the time restriction or they simply will not want to do it, for the IC’s, it is optional. When I am on duty during the week, if I am unable to confirm a driver, I then clock out and roll the company phone to my cell phone then go do it in my car for the same pay as an IC (.32 / mile).
Here is my main concern. On the weekends, from 4:30 PM on Friday until when I go in on Sunday at 11pm. They place someone on call. This means that they forward the company phone to that persons cell phone and that person must answer the phones the entire weekend. The calls that come in are the stat deliveries. It is very hit and miss, sometimes there will be 4 or 5 calls in one hour, sometimes there will be a 2 hour period without a call. When you get a call, you have the list of the dozen Independent Contractors. The stat must be picked up within 30 minutes. This pretty much gives you a 10 – 15 minute window to confirm another driver or else you have to do it. For the other IC drivers, most of them work 6 days a week on routes. The stats for them are optional. They frequentlyu say no, and then the “weekend dispatch” is required to go do the stat. For being on call, it is a total of 55 hours for the weekend. They pay $1 an hour. When you go on a stat, you are still rolled the phone, and still get the $1 an hour, and you do get paid for the stats that you do just the same as any driver the .32 a mile.
I have done the phones for this company a total of 12 times in the 12 months that I have worked there. I have never agreed with the $1 an hour. I recently researched it a little on my own, this is what I found…
http://www.nolo.com/lawcenter/ency/article.cfm/objectID/BC386074-EA20-4F4A-A6FE27C780E781EB
I believe that this would apply because I am not able to use the time for my own personal enjoyment when the phone frequently rings several times in an hour. Then once the phone rings, I have to make more calls to find another driver to do it, or I may even have to be ready within 10 minutes to do it myself if no one else will.
I cannot go to a friends house that is an hour away, or I for sure cannot go to a bar. This means that they place significant restrictions on the activities that I am able to do over the weekend. To me this should pay at least minimum wage per hour. When I take the phones, they do not cut back my hours during the rest of the week, so when you have the phones, that puts you at about 100 hours a week. To me, if they claim to be a 24 hour company and they have work getting called in 24 hours a day 7 days a week shouldn’t they be legally obligated to employ at least 1 employee 24 hours a day 7 days a week? I am not sure if they can even call this "on call" because you are the dispatcher, if a call comes in, you have to go do it, I typically do at least 10 stat calls that I end up doing because noone else will. The stat drivers, it is optional. If you are making the $1 an hour, you must get it done if noone else will,
Any advice with this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks and have a nice day.
Hello.
I work for a Courier Service. I am the Overnight Dispatcher. My shift is typically from 11pm-7am Sunday-Thursday. Recently they cut my shift by 3 hours a night, They say it is just until the end of December. I have a wide variety of duties. The Company employs a few employees overnight, I am the only one at the warehouse all night. The others are hourly paid drivers that drive box trucks on line haul routes. There are also Independent Contractors that have local routes most of those are 6 days a week. I am mostly there to keep the place open for the other drivers to come in and out to pickup and drop things off, Answer the phones, and then I am the only one there that is assigned cleaning duties. I am also responsible for setting up the scanners for the drug routes (similar system to signing for a package from UPS).
For one of the drug companies, we do stat deliveries. These are deliveries which must be picked up at the pharmacy within 30 minutes of being called in and then delivered within 90 minutes of that. The only exception to that is if it takes longer than that to drive to the delivery location. These calls get called in 24 hours a day. When it is during my shift I am to try to call an IC to do that stat. We have about a dozen IC’s. Frequently I am unable to confirm a driver to do stats because they will either be on a route already and unable to meet the time restriction or they simply will not want to do it, for the IC’s, it is optional. When I am on duty during the week, if I am unable to confirm a driver, I then clock out and roll the company phone to my cell phone then go do it in my car for the same pay as an IC (.32 / mile).
Here is my main concern. On the weekends, from 4:30 PM on Friday until when I go in on Sunday at 11pm. They place someone on call. This means that they forward the company phone to that persons cell phone and that person must answer the phones the entire weekend. The calls that come in are the stat deliveries. It is very hit and miss, sometimes there will be 4 or 5 calls in one hour, sometimes there will be a 2 hour period without a call. When you get a call, you have the list of the dozen Independent Contractors. The stat must be picked up within 30 minutes. This pretty much gives you a 10 – 15 minute window to confirm another driver or else you have to do it. For the other IC drivers, most of them work 6 days a week on routes. The stats for them are optional. They frequentlyu say no, and then the “weekend dispatch” is required to go do the stat. For being on call, it is a total of 55 hours for the weekend. They pay $1 an hour. When you go on a stat, you are still rolled the phone, and still get the $1 an hour, and you do get paid for the stats that you do just the same as any driver the .32 a mile.
I have done the phones for this company a total of 12 times in the 12 months that I have worked there. I have never agreed with the $1 an hour. I recently researched it a little on my own, this is what I found…
http://www.nolo.com/lawcenter/ency/article.cfm/objectID/BC386074-EA20-4F4A-A6FE27C780E781EB
I believe that this would apply because I am not able to use the time for my own personal enjoyment when the phone frequently rings several times in an hour. Then once the phone rings, I have to make more calls to find another driver to do it, or I may even have to be ready within 10 minutes to do it myself if no one else will.
I cannot go to a friends house that is an hour away, or I for sure cannot go to a bar. This means that they place significant restrictions on the activities that I am able to do over the weekend. To me this should pay at least minimum wage per hour. When I take the phones, they do not cut back my hours during the rest of the week, so when you have the phones, that puts you at about 100 hours a week. To me, if they claim to be a 24 hour company and they have work getting called in 24 hours a day 7 days a week shouldn’t they be legally obligated to employ at least 1 employee 24 hours a day 7 days a week? I am not sure if they can even call this "on call" because you are the dispatcher, if a call comes in, you have to go do it, I typically do at least 10 stat calls that I end up doing because noone else will. The stat drivers, it is optional. If you are making the $1 an hour, you must get it done if noone else will,
Any advice with this matter would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks and have a nice day.