What are the Laws and Regulations for Being On-Call, for Training Time, Travel Time, and Jury Service?
The FLSA and Arizona Minimum Wage Law set out standards to govern what is considered compensable work time and how work time is to be compensated.
Under Arizona law, an employee is considered to be on compensable duty if he is actively working or waiting to work and is not permitted to use the time for his own purposes. AZ Admin. Code R20-5-1202(22).
On-call time is compensable only when the employee is unable to use the time for his or her own purposes. If you can stay home, watch TV, or go out to eat, the time you are on-call is not compensable. AZ. Admin. Code R20-5-1202(22).
Arizona law does not address paying for sleeping time, travel time, meeting time, or training time.
The FLSA does offer some guidance on training time. Training time must be counted as work time unless four conditions are met:
• The attendance is outside the employee’s regular work hours,
• The attendance is voluntary,
• The meeting, seminar, or training is not directly related to the employee’s job, and
• The employee does not perform productive work while attending.
There is no requirement in Arizona law that an employee be given break time or lunch periods. However, if breaks are given, federal law requires wages be paid for all breaks of 20 minutes or less. Lunch breaks of 30 minutes or more are not required to be compensated.
There is no requirement in Arizona law that employees be paid while on jury duty. However, an employer may not fire an employee who complies with a summons for jury duty; nor can the employer require the employee to use vacation or sick time while serving as a juror.