Much City business operates 24 hours per day / 365 days per year. Workers often need to be ready to respond after hours on short notice. To ensure prompt after-hours response, the City will assign and compensate select workers for being available to report to work while off-duty after hours (i.e., be on “standby” also referred to as “on-call”). This policy applies to non-exempt and exempt employees not covered by a collective bargaining agreement. Non-sworn Melbourne Police Department (MPD) employees are governed by MPD Policy 22.1.28 and 22.1.29. This policy does not apply to employees of the Melbourne-Orlando International Airport.

A. Department Directors shall assign standby assignments as minimally needed for the department to cover critical after-hours emergencies. Standby assignments generally run for seven days and alternate among available and qualified employees. Except in urgent circumstances, Department Directors shall schedule standby assignments at least 30 days in advance. Departments shall report standby hours to the Payroll Office along with the bi-weekly timekeeping report in a manner as instructed by the Payroll Office. Departments shall document standby assignments and calls for after-hours work by standby workers.

B. For scheduling purposes, standby schedules are defined as follows: 

• Monday – end of shift on Monday. to start of shift on Tuesday. (e.g., Monday. 5:00 p.m. to Tuesday. 8:30 a.m.).
• Tuesday – end of shift on Tuesday. to start of shift on Wednesday. 
• Wednesday – end of shift on Wednesday. to start of shift on Thursday.
• Thursday – end of shift on Thursday. to start of shift on Friday.
• Friday – end of shift on Friday to Saturday, 7:30 a.m. or 8:30 a.m., depending on regular working schedule.
• Saturday – Saturday, 8:30 a.m., to Sunday, 7:30 a.m. or 8:30 a.m., depending on regular working schedule.
• Sunday – Sunday, 8:30 a.m., to start of shift on Monday.

C. While on standby, the employee is off-duty and shall be immediately reachable by telephone and available to respond to the work site of need within the time period as prescribed by the employee’s Director. Upon departure to the work site, the employee is on-duty and remains on duty until 30 minutes after departure from the work site, and then returns back to standby status. While on-duty the employee can be entitled to compensation depending on the employee’s status as either non-exempt or exempt and as further described below.

There is no minimum guaranteed overtime when called to after-hours work from standby assignment. 
While on standby assignment, the employee is expected to adhere to all City policy.

D. If the after-hours work emergency can be resolved via telephone or remotely (i.e., computer network connection), then the standby employee shall be compensated for time spent resolving the matter in excess of the first fifteen (15) minutes for non-exempt employees and the first thirty (30) minutes for exempt employees. In such a situation, non-exempt employees shall be compensated at the employee’s overtime rate; exempt employees are eligible for an equivalent amount of compensatory time. Telephone calls or remote contacts of duration less than fifteen minutes (non-exempt employees) or less than thirty minutes (exempt employees) are not entitled to additional compensation and are implicit of the standby compensation, and are not cumulative over a standby shift.

While all business of the City is deemed important, select services are critical and directly affect the health, welfare, and safety of City residents. As such, compensation for standby assignments is as follows:

E. Utilities Operations Division
Water Production Division
Water Reclamation Division

Non-exempt employees assigned to standby will be compensated for standby at the same rate and manner as City employees covered by the LiUNA collective bargaining agreement. 

Exempt employees assigned to standby will be compensated at the rate of 8.0 hours of compensatory time per week of standby assignment. Assignment to standby for less than a full 7-day week will be compensated on a pro-rata basis. If called to work after hours, exempt employees are eligible for compensatory time as specified in HR Policy 10.18.

F. Facilities Management Division
Streets Management Division
Traffic Engineering Division
Information Technology Department

Non-exempt employees assigned to standby will be compensated at the rate of $400 per week of standby (i.e. 7 days), plus an additional $40 for a holiday. Assignment to standby for less than a full 7-day week will be compensated on a pro-rata basis. If the non-exempt standby employee is called to work after hours, the employee is eligible for overtime in line with Human Resources Policy 10.17.

Exempt employees assigned to standby will be compensated at the rate of 8.0 hours of compensatory time per week of standby assignment. Assignment to standby for less than a full 7-day week will be compensated on a pro-rata basis. If called to work after hours, exempt employees are eligible for compensatory time as specified in HR Policy 10.18.

G. Management 

The City Manager, Deputy City Manager, Department Directors, Assistant Department Directors, and Superintendents are not eligible for compensation for standby assignment. Division Managers and Assistant Superintendents are generally not eligible for compensation for standby assignment unless approved by the employee’s Department Director and the City Manager.

After the date of implementation of this policy, any Department Director seeking to add a new position to standby assignment shall seek approval in writing from the City Manager.

This Policy shall not conflict with provisions provided under Human Resources Policy 10.13 – Continuity of Operations Plan Pay Policy or City Administrative Policy 904 – Emergency Operations Pay. The City Manager may implement alternatives and exceptions to the Standby/On-Call Pay Policy as necessary in the best interest of the City.