| I. PURPOSE
| | To provide policy and guidelines for proper use, standardization, and control of standby and call back pay in the Department of Mental Health (DMH).
Employees who have questions regarding timekeeping may contact their timekeeper directly.
Managers at the level of Program Head and above may contact the head of Personnel/Payroll Operations for interpretation of this policy and County Code salary provisions.
| | II. DEFINITIONS
| | Standby Pay: Standby is considered to be time off-duty period during which an employee is assigned by the Department to be immediately available to resume his/her duties either by physical performance or through telephone consultation with on-duty staff.
When the assignment to standby service causes the employee inconvenience and restricts his/her normal activities during the off-duty period, the employee shall be entitled to bonus pay as provided under applicable provisions of County Code Sections 6.08.240(D), 6.10.120, or 6.86.020, and this policy.
Section 6.08.240(D) applies to standby bonus for physicians paid under the Physician’s Pay Plan. Section 6.10.120 applies to non-physician employees. Section 6.86.020 applies to those employees, both physician and non-physician, assigned to a Mental Health Alert Team or a Psychiatric Mobile Response Team.
Call Back Bonus: Call Back is considered an employee’s unexpected return to duty because of unanticipated work requirements resulting from either standby service or a specific order to return to work (outside of regular working hours) provided the following exists:
For Assigned Standby Service The return to duty is required after termination of the employee’s normal work shift and departure from his/her work location but not less than two hours before the established start time of the employee’s next regular work shift.
For a Specific Order to Return to Work (outside of regular working hours) The order to return to work is given by a Deputy Director or above level manager after termination of the employee’s normal work shift and departure from his/her work location; and the employee returns to work within 24 hours of the order being given but not less than two hours before the established starting time of the employee’s next regular shift.
| | III. POLICY
| Departmental Standby Assignments
Listed below are the regularly scheduled DMH assignments in which standby service is required: - Mental Health Alert Teams and Psychiatric Mobile Response Teams.
- After-hours physician consultation for Forensics Bureau.
- After-hours physician consultation for Child and Youth Services Bureau. [“After hours” for physician consultation purposes means after 5:00 p.m. and before 8:00 a.m. weekdays, and all day Saturday and Sunday, and County holidays.]
Unless specifically authorized by the Director of Mental Health or Chief Deputy Director, no other standby assignments are authorized in the Department.
Conditions Under Which the Standby Bonus May Be Paid
Standby service is only permitted for those classifications which perform clinical or treatment-related duties. Positions which perform administrative, clerical, and managerial responsibilities, including managers paid under the Physician’s Pay Plan and Performance-Based Pay Plan, are not authorized to receive standby bonus except as noted.
The Director of Mental Health or the Chief Deputy Director may authorize standby service for clerical and other non-managerial and non-administrative classifications when sufficient and compelling reasons exist.
When an employee is absent from work due to illness, injury, vacation, or bereavement – whether authorized or not and whether paid or not – standby service is not allowed for that day, and the bonus may not be claimed.
Weekend standby service shall not be assigned to an employee who was not at work on the preceding Friday unless the employee has reported to the assigning manager, by the end of the regular workshift, that he/she is available for service on the weekend.
Even though an employee may be assigned to standby service, and is eligible to receive the bonus, standby service is not authorized when an on-duty employee in a similar classification and in the bureau is available to perform the duties.
Rate of Pay for Standby Service
Mental Health Alert Teams / Psychiatric Mobile Response Teams
The following classifications may be assigned to Mental Health Alert Teams and Psychiatric Mobile Response Teams (PMRT). They receive $1.00 per hour, (not to exceed $300 per month) for standby service in such assignment:
Item Number Payroll Classification
4739 Chief Mental Health Psychiatrist
5469 Clinic Physician, M.D.
8697 Clinical Psychologist II
8711 Community Mental Health Psychologist
5471 Consulting Specialist, M.D.
5470 Mental Health Consultant, M.D.
5278 Mental Health Counselor, R.N.
5475 Physician, M.D.
5477 Physician Specialist, M.D.
9034 Psychiatric Social Worker I
9035 Psychiatric Social Worker II
8161 Psychiatric Technician I
8162 Psychiatric Technician II
5280 Senior Mental Health Counselor, R.N.
9038 Supervising Psychiatric Social Worker
Item 5492 - Mental Health Clinical District Chief, M.D., is authorized to receive the $1.00 per hour standby rate for service on the Mental Health Alert Team only.
Physician Standby Service
When a physician, eligible to receive the bonus as provided for in this policy, is assigned to standby service, the standby rate is $7.00 per hour in accordance with County Code Section 6.08.240(D) of the Physician’s Pay Plan.
A physician assigned to an Alert Team or PMRT receives the standby rate of $1.00 per hour. The Mental Health Psychiatrist (Item No. 4735), however, if assigned to an Alert Team or PMRT, receives the $7.00 per-hour rate.
The $7.00 per hour rate for standby service reflects the total rate for after-hours service. Even if the physician returns to work as a result of the standby service, there would not be any additional compensation for the call back.
Physician service on an Alert Team or PMRT, except for Mental Health Psychiatrist, does not include the rate for call back. A return to duty would require additional compensation. See “Call Back Bonus – Rate of Pay for Call Back”, below.
Standby pay, either alone or in combination with overtime, may not exceed 60% of a physician’s base monthly salary, which is calculated twice each month (i.e., 60% for the first half and 60% for the second half).
Standby Service for Non-Physicians
When a non-physician employee paid under the Standardized Salary Schedule Pay Plan is assigned for standby service, other than to a Mental Health Alert Team or PMRT, and is eligible to receive the bonus as provided for in this policy, the rate of pay shall be either: - 50 cents per hour, not to exceed $100.00 per month, for classifications represented by Bargaining Unit 711 (Social Workers), 721 (Psychiatric Social Workers), and 723 (Child Welfare Workers); or
- 25 cents per hour, not to exceed $50.00 per month, for all other classifications both represented and non-represented.
Rate of Pay for Call Back
Physicians
For physicians assigned to standby service, other than an Alert Team or PMRT, the call back pay is included in the standby rate.
For physicians on standby as part of a Mental Health Alert Team or PMRT assignment, call back pay is not included in the $1.00 per-hour rate. Thus, when a physician returns to work as part of the Mental Health Alert Team or PMRT standby service, the call back is compensated as overtime, either at the straight time pay rate or, if approved by the Director of Mental Health, or designee, at compensatory, hour-for-hour time off. - A maximum of 240 hours of compensatory time off may be accumulated at any one time in a calendar year with a maximum of 144 hours deferrable to the next calendar year only. Those hours carried over will then be lost if not used by the end of the second calendar year.
- Overtime in any combination with home care compensation and/or standby compensation may not exceed 60% of a physician’s base monthly salary.
Non-physicians
First Call Back - Non-physician employees authorized to receive paid overtime are paid a minimum payment equivalent to four hours’ pay at their respective classification’s premium rate. After the first four hours, additional hours worked as part of this same call back are paid according to the number of hours worked.
- Non-physician employees, not authorized to receive paid overtime, receive a minimum of four hours compensatory time off. After the first four hours, additional hours worked as part of the same call back are accrued as one hour of compensatory time off for each hour worked.
Second and Subsequent Call Backs
For any non-physician employee, a second and any subsequent call back occurring within four hours of the beginning of the first call back is covered by the first call back’s compensation.
Hours worked beyond the fourth hour are compensated at the appropriate rate of overtime.
Example:
An employee is called back to work at 10:00 p.m. The first call back is established as the period from 10:00 p.m. through 2:00 a.m. If the employee completes the call, returns home, and is called back at 1:30 a.m., the second call is compensated as part of the first call back. It does not establish a new call back period. If the second call back goes beyond 2:00 a.m., the time worked after 2:00 a.m. is compensated at the overtime rate (see above).
A call back occurring beyond four hours of the beginning of the first call back is compensated as if it were the first call back.
Example:
An employee is called back to work at 10:00 p.m. The first call back period is established from 10:00 p.m. through 2:00 a.m. The call is completed and the employee returns home. A second call back is received at 2:40 a.m. A new call back period is established from 2:45 a.m. through 6:45 a.m. The 2:45 a.m. call back is compensated as if it were a first call back (see Section above). | | IV. PROCEDURES
| | | | V. AUTHORITIES
| | Memoranda of Understanding
Los Angeles County Code, Sections 6.08.240; 6.10.120; and 6.86.020
| | VI. ATTACHMENTS
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