On Call from Home

[mszenk]

Hello fellow PA's I need an advice, and or information.

 

In my contract it specifically states that I will be taking call only from home on my week on call. Yet I am expected now to come in on Saturday and Sunday to do rounds is that a breach of contract?

 

And is there some kind of law that protects us from having to come in to work 7 days of the week with out a day's rest.

 

BTW I get $0 additional money for taking call. And under payed.

 

I work in private Cardiothorasic Surgery practice that also expects us to do general surgery if a patient eventually might become our patient.

 

Thanks Monika

[ventana]

is a load of poop that they expect you to work for free

 

50% overtime premium on top of call pay to come in on weekends

 

refuse to be on call for free

 

if you have it in writing just stop doing it and demand a contact review

 

 

 

 

 

many many threads about this and in no way should you give in to giving away your labor for free.

[mszenk]

Just to be clear If my contract states that I will take on call from home on the weekend does not necessarily mean I agreed to come to do rounds.

 

The reason I am asking because the PA's that have been already there 2 of them seem to think so but I am like NO it does not. And therefore I am having problems.

The PA's that have been here for 5 to 9 years in the practice accept all the changes and just take it.

Recently the took away 3 holidays payed no one said a word. I am a new grad that just started to work there 3 months ago but it looks like I have more know how then they do.

[ventana]

gotta stand up for yourself - no one else is going to

 

if you are making 120+ year then whatever

 

but if you are in the typical pay rates you need to advocate for yourself of they will continue to just take and take....

[andersenpa]

There are different ways to approach this. Different models I've heard:

 

-compensate per call shift (24 hrs) regardless of call type (home vs rounding vs cases only etc)

-lower base rate for the day with added flat rate for coming in to do a case-

-hourly

 

I've never heard of any law that restricts work days or hours

 

If you say you are being underpaid then it seems like you should be getting some sort of extra compensation

The APACVS has typically tracked total compensation but I've never seen numbers about call-specific pay

They do track call frequency, though

 

Look at their numbers which can tell you what a private practice new grad should be making based on the population of your region (eg big city vs remote)

 

If you are at or below the average, then you can talk to your PA partners about proposing a pay schedule to the practice.

 

For home pager call only- if you are paid hourly (or simply break your salary into an hourly rate), you could ask for 4-6 hrs min paid per call shift. Based on the average salary thats at least few hundred bucks.

If you come in to round then it's more. I have heard numbers that range from $500-1000/24 hrs.

 

The practice may opt to simply increase your base pay, in which case you need to make sure it is fair pay.

 

Any CTS PA who is being paid at or below the average for their region/experience and is NOT getting call compensation is being treated unfairly.

 

And don't let your group try to tell you that the surgeons don't get call pay and therefore you shouldn't, b/c that is simply NOT an apples-to-apples comparison.

 

Good luck- and join the APACVS if you haven't!

[mszenk]

The APACVS has typically tracked total compensation but I've never seen numbers about call-specific pay

They do track call frequency, though

 

Look at their numbers which can tell you what a private practice new grad should be making based on the population of your region (eg big city vs remote)

 

Can you give me a link to the page I was a member as a student need to rejoin as a member.

 

I know I said it before but call from home is different then call with doing rounds correct. I want to know if I have a basis for demanding contract revision as I agreed to do call with the salary they provided also I did not realized because I was a new grad that being on call also means to do triage of all phone calls to doctors answering calls 24/7 during my call week.

[andersenpa]

The reports is emailed to the membership so it's not onlline.

you can email Carol Goddard through the website to see how you can get the PDF sent to you.

 

Your call means you are on a week at a time, and take 100% home call? To me that means all calls- hospital, office, patients etc. If you have a copy of the contract it should be spelled out. If not, it should be rewritten.

If you are changin to rounding as well then you should request (as a group of PAs IMO) extra compensation.