Summary
See the whole summary
Definition of on-call duty
The on-call period is defined as:
- a period during which the employee, without being at the disposal of his employer, must remain at his home or near his place of work in order to be able to intervene on the premises of the company;
- on-call time is not due actual working time ;
- the intervention is considered as effective working time as well as the employee’s “outward and return” journey to reach the place where his presence is required.
(See Article L3121-5 of the Labor Code).
Setting up penalties
On-call duty is introduced within the company by:
- extended branch collective agreements or agreements;
- company or establishment agreements;
- unilaterally, after informing and consulting the works council or, in the absence of a works council, the staff representatives, and after informing the labor inspector.
The agreement must provide:
- a compensation, whether financial or in the form of rest time;
- the mode of organization of the on-call duty;
- compliance with the maximum durations of working hours and respect for rest time ;
- the notice period.
Is the employee’s refusal possible?
- if the bet is placed as a result of a collective agreement or convention, refusal may result in dismissal;
- if the penalty is put in place by the employer (unilateral decision), the employer cannot impose it and the employee’s refusal should not entail any sanction.
Can the employee ask for on-call duty?
If the implementation comes from a collective agreement or a convention, the mode of organization is then fixed: the request by the employee is then possible.
Failing agreement, it is the employer who is supposed to set the penalty payments.
Possible offsets
An employee under on-call duty must benefit from:
- financial consideration and/or under form of rest ;
- if the remuneration is fixed at the start, the financial compensation will be added to the fixed remuneration.
In other words, and according to what is stipulated in the collective agreement, an employee paid €10 per hour when he performs his work, can benefit during the time spent under penalty from:
- payment for hours at €10 or a lower hourly rate;
WHERE
- compensation by rest (example: 1 hour for 3 hours of on-call duty);
- payment at a lower hourly rate AND compensation at rest.
Intervention time
- He is considered as effective worktherefore taken into account for the increase in overtime;
- time to return journey is considered part of the intervention.
On-call duty and rest
Except in the event that an intervention occurs, the on-call periods are deducted from the minimum rest periods:
- daily (11 a.m.);
- weekly (35h).
Concretely, the employee who is on call at the weekend, without having made an intervention will be considered as having benefited from his minimum weekly rest.
Stress in the workplace?
According to labor Codethe on-call duty must take place at the employee’s home or any other place, provided that it is close to the company’s premises in order to quickly carry out an intervention.
The hours worked on the workplace are in fact time spent on duty, it is then considered as effective working time and must be remunerated as such.
Special case: staff accommodation
If the employee is bound by a simple obligation of presence within his staff housing and does not perform any work there for the employer, this is a period of on-call duty.
But if the employee must also perform certain work there, even minimal, these periods constitute effective working time.
For which categories of employees?
The penalty payments concern executive and non-executive employees.
Accidents while on call?
If the accident occurs during the intervention, it is a work accident. If it occurs outside the intervention, it is up to the employee to prove the link between the accident and work.
If the accident takes place in a place imposed by the employer: the accident is treated as taking place on the premises of the company.
Our tips:
The on-call periods are strongly regulated by the labor code, employees and employers have every interest in knowing the fundamental principles in order to avoid errors.