Overview
A number of US states require that employees who report to work as scheduled receive minimum compensation, even if they are sent home early or not provided with their full scheduled hours. This is known as 'call-in pay', or 'reporting time pay'.
Each state has different requirements for how call-in pay is calculated, and what rate should be used (either minimum wage or regular rate of pay).
If you are unsure whether this rule applies to your business, or how it should be applied, consult your payroll advisor or refer to the applicable state law.
Availability
The Call-in pay compliance rule is a Premium feature, available to all Premium SocialSchedules accounts.
How is the payment calculated?
Call-in pay is triggered when an employee works less than the minimum required for their shift. The minimum can be configured in two ways:
Minimum number of hours
The employee must be paid for at least a set number of hours, regardless of how long they actually worked.
Example: Jane is scheduled to work 9:00 am – 3:00 pm. She clocks in at 8:58am but is sent home at 10:28am due to lack of customers. She earns $25/hour; the minimum wage is $20/hour; and the minimum shift duration is 4 hours.
Jane's actual time worked was 1.5 hours (25 x 1.5 = $37.50).
Call-in pay is calculated as (4-1.5) = 2.5 hours x $20 = $45.
Total take home pay: $82.50
Multiple shifts
SocialSchedules also supports minimum combined shift durations when an employee works more than one shift in a workday.
Example: Jane works 9:00 am – 12:30 pm and then 2:00 pm – 4:00 pm. Her combined shift duration is 5.5 hours. As the minimum for 2 shifts is 6 hours, she is eligible for 30 minutes of call-in pay.
Percentage of shift
The employee must be paid for at least a set percentage of their scheduled shift duration.
Top-up pay
If the employee's actual working time falls below the configured minimum in either example, they are entitled to top-up pay for the difference.
Actual time worked is paid at the employee's normal rate of pay
The remaining balance is paid at either the minimum wage or the employee's regular rate of pay, depending on your configuration.
Configuring Call-in pay in SocialSchedules
To set up the Call-in pay rule:
Go to Settings > Compliance > Additional pay rules.
Toggle the rule on using the switch next to Call-in pay.
Select whether call-in pay is based on a minimum number of hours or a percentage of shift.
If minimum number of hours is selected: Set the minimum paid hours for single and multiple shifts. If percentage of shift is selected: Set the percentage of shift the employee must be paid for.
Under Based on, select whether the top-up pay is calculated at minimum wage or regular wage.
Set an export code if you use payroll export.
Under Warnings & restrictions, choose how SocialSchedules should respond when the rule is triggered:
Take no action — the rule is tracked but no alert is shown.
Mark as warning in shifts and timecards (recommended) — a warning is displayed so managers can review.
Restrict from schedule — prevents shifts from being scheduled that would trigger the rule.
Click Done to save.
Setting the minimum wage
The minimum wage used in this rule must be set on the Additional pay rules screen. If you have locations with different minimum wages, you'll need to create a separate compliance group for each one.