Labor laws question - salary workers doing hourly work

[SalParadise]

I'm in the telecom industry & the equipment we use has got to be working 24/7. Currently, we've got field guys who rotate an on-call schedule so they can respond to various problems & alarms. Sometimes they have to go out to a location, sometimes they can just dial up & do whatever work they have to do.

We're about to implement a new system that will page salaried engineers (24/7) for them to be the first responder to any system alarms - they'll need to try to remotely deal with the problem, if they can't fix it (remotely) - they then get a field guy involved.

Part of the document that outlines these new procedures states that it's being implemented to save over-time on-call pay for these hourly field techs.

VERY recently, I've seen something about this being against labor laws - when a company defines hourly duties, they're to pay hourly wages for those who perform them (I think). If these hourly guys had a union (which they don't) this wouldn't even be considered (I'd hope), because it's going to take pay out of their pockets.

Can anyone point me to any relevant labor statutes that would address a case like this specifically? I want to nip this crap in the bud.

[Jackpine Radical]

1. AFAIK salaried professionals may get paid for the extra hours

but only at their regular hourly rate. I know that our prison psychologists get paid 1 hour of regular pay when they have to be on call with the beeper. They may get called in to deal with an emergency or not, but either way they get the 1 hour regular pay. They are union, so I'm sure that this system has been run past the union lawyers.

[Mad As Hell]

2. I think with the new OT rules,

salaried professionals get nothing for this unless there is an exception in the new 500 pages of OT rules. You can thank Bush and his "Labor" Dept. for these new "Fair Pay" rules.

[POAS]

3. It shouldn't matter if

the salaried workers are not represented by the union. What IS important is if the hourly workers being displaced are union. IF you are union then you should file a grievance. In most union contracts, salaried, non bargaining unit employees, are barred from doing the jobs of bargaining unit workers except in the event of a job action (strike). If the salaried workers are in a union but a different one from the hourly the jobs definitions in each contract should accomplish the same thing, barring one union's workers from infringing into another's jobs.

[SalParadise]

4. There are no unions in this area at any level

Not for the field guys, not for the salaried guys.

[POAS]

6. Then I'd say your SOL n/t

[Snotcicles]

5. I'm not sure but it may have something to do with area standards. n/t