Location: Virginia, USA
Situation: Non-exempt employees not getting paid for being "on call" and not getting paid overtime.
I'm employed at a very prominent endodontics office which is located in Virginia. Employer considers 36 hours to be a full-time workweek for the assistants and the 36 hours are worked over a 4-day timeframe with 30 minute lunches.
Any hours worked in excess of the standard 36-hours-per-week is considered "extra". If an employee works 36.5 hours, for example, the extra 30 minutes is "banked" as comp time to be used at a later date.
On an employee's "day off" the employee is required to be "on call" in case a dental emergency arises or another employee is unable to work due to illness or family emergency. If an employee receives a call to come in and work while "on call" and is unable to do so, a note (aka "unavailable note") is put into the employee's personnel file and when annual reviews are conducted, the number of "unavailable notes" is factored into the equation used to determine pay raises.
Keeping the 36-hours-in-4-days workweek in mind, if you DO come in while being "on call" you only get paid a maximum of 40 hours and any extra time is "banked" as "comp time" for future use.
Employer also has administrative staff that are also considered to have a full workweek at 36 hours, but are permitted to work up to 40 hours a week to cover for another administrative staff person or to work on a special project. When working extra hours as coverage for another administrative staffperson who is ill, you're guaranteed at least 9 bonus hours of work since a typical administrative workday is 7:30-5:00 or 8:00-5:30 (9.5 hours minus 30 minute lunch = 9 hours). However, as with the dental assistants, administrative staff is only receiving pay for the time up to & including 40 hours and any hours in excess of 40 are also banked as comp time. If an administrative staffperson works a full 9-hour bonus day, this means that 5 hours are automatically banked as comp time.
The banked comp time is at the standard "straight time rate" which doesn't seem fair.
Any help & guidance would be greatly appreciated.

