On-call pay laws: when your unpaid standby time is legally “hours worked.”

Yes — on-call time must be paid when your employer's restrictions are tight enough that you are not really free to use the time for yourself. The question that decides nearly every case is control: if the company dictates where you can be, how fast you must respond, and whether you can drink, travel, sleep, or make plans, those standby hours are “hours worked,” they count toward the 40-hour overtime threshold, and unpaid ones are recoverable wages.

Federal standard: 29 C.F.R. § 785.17 and Owens v. Local No. 169, 971 F.2d 347 (9th Cir. 1992). California is stricter — employer control alone is enough under Mendiola v. CPS Security Solutions, 60 Cal. 4th 833 (2015).

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Do I get paid for being on call?

You must be paid for on-call time when your employer's restrictions are severe enough that you cannot use the time effectively for your own purposes (29 C.F.R. § 785.17). Carrying a phone and leaving word where you can be reached usually isn't enough; a geographic tether plus a short fixed response window plus frequent callouts usually is. Those hours count toward the 40-hour overtime threshold — see the complete guide to on-call pay laws.

Is a 60-minute on-call response window illegal?

The window itself isn't illegal — but it is one of the strongest facts making unpaid on-call hours compensable, especially when combined with a requirement to stay near the shop or keep a company truck loaded and ready. Courts weigh the response limit alongside geography, call frequency, and whether the rotation can be traded (Owens v. Local No. 169, 971 F.2d 347 (9th Cir. 1992)).

How much can I recover for unpaid on-call time?

Unpaid on-call hours are recoverable at the overtime rate, generally doubled as liquidated damages under 29 U.S.C. § 216(b), across a two-year lookback — three years if the violation was willful (29 U.S.C. § 255(a)). Real outcomes in this industry include a settlement of more than $1.6 million for more than 600 disaster-restoration workers in Rodriguez v. BELFOR USA Group, Inc., No. 5:22-cv-02071 (N.D. Cal.), with final approval granted October 9, 2025. Attorney's fees are separately recoverable, which is why these cases are typically handled on contingency.

I do water mitigation / restoration work. Does on-call time count?

Water mitigation and restoration workers are often required to work weekends and remain on-call unpaid unless actually dispatched to a job. Courts have repeatedly found that a mandatory 60-minute geographic tether blocking normal life activities is exactly the fact pattern that converts unpaid on-call time into paid “hours worked”.SourcesFederal: 29 U.S.C. § 207(a) (FLSA overtime); 29 C.F.R. § 785.17 (on-call time as hours worked); Armour & Co. v. Wantock, 323 U.S. 126 (1944); Owens v. Local No. 169, 971 F.2d 347 (9th Cir. 1992).California: Cal. Lab. Code §§ 510, 1194; IWC Wage Order 4-2001 § 2(K) (“hours worked”); Mendiola v. CPS Security Solutions, 60 Cal. 4th 833 (2015); Ward v. Tilly's, Inc., 31 Cal. App. 5th 1167 (2019).