What is Standby Pay Mean?
Standby pay is extra pay for workers who must report for duty right away.
You must be accessible to work and cannot utilize the time you are in that status for your own reasons if you are on “standby” outside of your regular working hours.
During the whole period that you are in stand-by status, you are paid at your regular straight-time rate.
How Much is Standby Pay?
According to WAC 357-28-210, standby pay is calculated as 7% of an employee’s base hourly rate. The rate of standby compensation must be established at $25 per day if an employer pays overtime-exempt workers.
Exceptions to standby may be approved by the Director of the Office of the State HR Director.
How Does Standby Pay Work?
The employee needs a formal directive to stay put at their office. The worker’s continued employment at his or her place of employment cannot be purely voluntary, desired, the result of remoteness, or only because the worker resides on the premises.
The requirement must be related to the regularly scheduled tasks that the employee is responsible for performing, either as a continuation of their normal work that includes standby time.
It has to be understood that standby simply means you must be accessible to work and cannot utilize the time you are in that status for your own reasons if you are on “standby” outside of your regular working hours. During the whole period that you are in stand-by status, you are paid at your regular straight-time rate.
Also, See: Call-Back Pay