MEMORANDUM. Enos Jones, MSCS P.E., Director, Operations and Maintenance. Request for Funding: On-Call Policy for Facilities O&M Shops

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1 The University of Texas at San Antonio Office of Facilities MEMORANDUM TO: Thru: FROM: Dave Riker, Associate Vice President for Facilities David Oliver, Assistant Vice President for Facilities Enos Jones, MSCS P.E., Director, Operations and Maintenance DATE: October 23, 2014 RE: Request for Funding: On-Call Policy for Facilities O&M Shops Background On-Call requires that an employee must remain available to be called back to work on short notice if the need arises. UTSA with its ongoing research activities and significant student population, requires facilities skilled personnel to be available 24 hours, 365 days a year to respond to incidents that may be disruptive to this campus community. These issues may be emergency callbacks such as when an employee has left the work site and is requested to respond (either by going back to work or responding via telephone or computer) on short notice to an emergency situation at the University for any of the following reasons: 1. To avoid significant service disruption. 2. To avoid placing employees, students or the public in unsafe situations. 3. To protect and/or provide emergency services to property or equipment. 4. To respond to emergencies with students, clients, or residents. Major universities such as Texas State University, San Marcos and University of Texas at Austin have this type of on-call procedure in place and have done so for many years. Effectively, the rate at Texas State University for the standby rate is $1.00 per hour on weekends and holidays and about half that amount on weekdays. Thus $24 per day and $12 per day respectively. UT Austin s policy rate on Standby is $1.25 per hour. Their policies are attachments E and D of this document, respectively. The rate that employers can extend for this type of special pay is not regulated and is up to the discretion of the employer. This request for funding is in alignment with the UTSA HR recommendation of $1.50 per hour for this on call function. This amount was arrived upon to be consistent with a similar on call policy in the Housing and Residential Area. (See on this subject in Attachment F from Page 1 of 24

2 Bruce Tingle). The policy in Attachment A has also been reviewed by Employee Relations (Joseph Towey) and his comments and suggestions have been incorporated. Problem UTSA s current policy is an uncompensated system for standby where volunteers are contacted to respond to On-Call situations. This has worked well in most cases but is highly dependent on circumstances. In the past year there have been multiple cases when recruiting various shop specific personnel through this voluntary policy has not worked well and service and responsiveness to emergency situations have suffered. Although there is an organized rotating list of volunteers for on-call, these employees are not bound from a human resource perspective because they are being asked to comply with procedures in their off-hours to which they are not directly compensated for standby. There is an existing policy of 4 hours of compensation should an on-call event occur and be responded to, but there is no compensation for the standby time which would require the employee to be in reasonable proximity to the university and to be in fit condition to respond should the call to return to the university for on-call purposes happen. A review of a recent report of call out hours recorded in the maintenance management software (TMA) shows a limited amount of important on-call events for the 1604 Campus owing I believe to our robust PM program. The report encompasses roughly a year s worth of information and we had 27 on-call events (See Attachment C). As can be seen from the report for the 27 events, only 29% of the time did the person scheduled to be on-call actually respond to the call. Compensation for standby would improve the responsiveness percentage and also allow supervisory staff to hold those on call fully accountable should they fail to perform their duty. Financial The Director of Operations and Maintenance will periodically provide the BSA front office (Business Services, office of Assistant VP and Associate VP for Facilities) an updated list of positions eligible for on-call duty. Generally on-call personnel should be at a Journeyman competency level as determined by the supervisor. Supervisors will advise the Director of O&M of recommended changes to the on-call Master List. Normally, the on-call employees total 4 from the O&M departments and come from the following skilled areas: 1. Plumbing 2. Electrical 3. Mechanical Maintenance 4. Facility Controls and Monitoring Each of the 4 people serves for one week in rotation on the schedule. (Duty starts Monday at 7:00 a.m. and ends the following Monday at 6:59 a.m.) The estimated amount for the whole of calendar 2014 is projected to be $39,600 for all 4 skill Page 2 of 24

3 areas (This excludes payment for time actually worked on the call-ins). The data from Attachment C shows that the 2013 yearly total for on-call events entails about 59 hours of actual time and if charged at the 4 hour minimum it would amount to 108 hours for the 27 events. Using $30 per hour this would add up to about $3240. If this were earned at overtime rates then the rate could be $45 per hour and this would add up to about $4860. The funding request for the 1604 campus on-call for the year is estimated to be $39,600 which far exceeds the call out expenses above; as a matter of fact the $39,600 would in effect be a standby charge and there would be an additional hour charge similar to last year s value for the actual hours spent on a call out. Recommendation Although there are increased costs with this approach, there are key benefits to be yielded: 1. Minimization of significant service disruption. 2. Reducing risk of placing employees, students or the public in unsafe situations. 3. Protecting and/or providing emergency services to property or equipment. 4. Responding to emergencies in support of students, clients, or residents. In other words, item 1 is important to the university due to its academic and research aspirations and this approach will serve to minimize disruptions due to improved responsiveness. Items 2 through 4 are achieved and optimized by having staff that is compensated to be on call and ready to be called-in should that occur. Therefore, my recommendation is to implement the attached on-call policy along with the compensation attached to it (Attachment A). Continue the policy of 4 hours of compensation should an employee be called in which would allow not only the person on call to be summoned but allows compensation for others not on call that need to come back to the university as well. The estimated cost of implementing this on-call policy is $39,600 per year (See Attachment B). Page 3 of 24

4 Attachment A Page 4 of 24

5 Attachment A ON-CALL POLICY/PROCEDURES I. PURPOSE: This policy provides guidance to Operations and Maintenance (O&M) in the administration of the policy for on-call employees. II. DEFINITION: Though a majority of O&M employees are deemed "essential" employees (UTSA HOP 9.15) and are subject to callback, the use of "on-call" employees ensures requisite skill sets are available to handle emergencies that occur offhours. On-call is defined as designated positions/employees required to be available for work should an emergency require their return to campus on short notice. III. ON-CALL OBLIGATION: An on-call employee is not required to remain on University premises (employees also need to remain in town or at least in the vicinity of San Antonio if they live elsewhere), but is required to be able to perform the job duties from a physical and mental perspective without violation of any university, State or Federal rules. Such employees shall refrain from the use of alcohol and/or other substances which may impair the employees' ability to drive to the University and perform his/her duties during their designated time periods. On-call employees are required to carry the appropriate department issued cellular telephone. When contacted by telephone, on-call personnel are required to respond within 15 minutes and, when necessary, should be on-site within an hour of responding. Employees using cellular phones, internet phones or land lines as a form of contact shall maintain awareness of availability and ensure they can be reached when called. The employee must contact their supervisor with an alternate number if outside of the primary coverage area or away from their normal contact number. IV. ON-CALL HOURS AND PAY CALCULATION: 1. O&M maintenance employees work 8 hours a day in a time period, Monday-Friday from 7:00 a.m. 4:00 p.m. (40 hours per normal work week). On-call coverage will be provided for hours outside of the normal workweek time period. For O&M maintenance shops, the on-call duty for weekday on-call will commence at the end of the normal work day (4 p.m.) and continue until 7:00 a.m. the next day and from the end of the normal workday (4 p.m.) on Friday until 7:00 a.m. Monday morning. Weekend only on-call will commence at 7:00 a.m. on Saturday and end at 7:00 a.m. on the following Monday. 2. On-Call Pay Calculation for a Normal Work Week: Type of Workday Daily Rate Total Per Normal Week Normal 15hr * $1.50 = $ *$22.50 = $ Weekend 24hr * $1.50 = $ *$36.00 = $72.00 Holidays 24hr * $1.50 = $36.00 *per University Page 5 of 24

6 Attachment A Each on-call employee will receive a special payment for the week they are on-call. This will be calculated at $22.50 per weekday (non-holiday or skeleton day) and $36.00 for Saturday, Sunday, or holiday. A normal week (no holidays) of on-call will be $ (5x$ x$36). Weekend only on-call employees will receive $72 (2 x $36). V. COMPLIANCE WITH ON-CALL POLICY: 1. It is imperative that employees of the O&M Department comply with the policy and procedures outlined. Depending on the nature of the problem, failure to respond to emergency calls could result in great damage to UTSA property and to the health and safety of persons on campus. Any employee who is, or becomes, unable to meet his/her on-call obligation shall immediately notify their supervisor. Exceptions to meeting the on-call obligation will be granted for major life events (i.e. hospitalization, accident, death, and major family issues). If a change is approved, the on-call payment with be prorated/assigned from the original to the substitute person. 2. The supervisor must approve any changes to the approved on-call schedule. If multiple supervisors are involved then a consensus must be reached between the supervisors. The O&M administrative assistant is then notified so that an updated schedule can be distributed. 3. Employees who fail to meet their "on-call" obligations are subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment. Failure to respond to a telephone call and/or refusal to report for duty when called by the Facilities Operation Dispatcher or an authorized Facilities O&M supervisor/employee, during the period an employee is designated for on-call duty, will result in loss of on-call pay for that day and may also result in disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment. VI. BILLING PROCESS: Call back charges will be billed monthly (to Service Level Agreement (SLA) customers) and will include a breakdown of charges by week. VII. ON-CALL CRITERIA: To be eligible for an on-call status, employee must have a minimum of 3 months experience (or other time period as approved by the supervisor and assistant O&M director) gained through employment with UTSA, have satisfactory performance and have demonstrated the ability to perform duties without supervision. Shop supervisors are responsible for developing an on-call training schedule for employees within their area that allows for familiarity with buildings, key systems and procedures within the normal 3 month initial period of employment. VIII. ON-CALL ROSTER: The Director of Operations and Maintenance will periodically provide the BSA front office( Business Services, office of Assistant VP and Associate VP for Facilities) an updated list of positions eligible for on-call duty. Generally on-call personnel should be at a Journeyman competency level as determined by the supervisor. Supervisors will advise the Director of O&M of recommended changes to the on-call Master List. Normally, the oncall employees total 4 from the O&M departments and come from the following skilled areas: 1. Plumbing 2. Electrical Page 6 of 24

7 Attachment A 3. Mechanical Maintenance 4. Facility Controls and Monitoring Each of the 4 people serves for one week in rotation on the schedule. (Duty starts Monday at 7:00 a.m. and ends the following Monday at 6:59 a.m.) IX. ON-CALL DUTY SCHEDULE: The Director of O&M will publish a four-month advance On-call Duty Roster. Employees wishing to exchange scheduled on-call weeks are responsible for finding a replacement. Exchanges must be approved by the appropriate supervisor(s). If an employee is unable to locate a replacement then the pre-scheduled on-call duty stands. X. ON-CALL AND LEAVE EVENTS: If an employee is unable to report to work during normal business hours, it is the employee s responsibility to notify his supervisor of such. Employees who fail to meet their on-call obligations are subject to disciplinary action, up to and including termination of employment. An employee can be removed from on-call status at any time at the discretion of the supervisor and/or Director of O&M should there be any question as to whether the employee was able and/or capable of carrying out their on-call responsibilities. XI. CALL-IN PROCEDURE/DETERMINATION: When a problem arises after hours, it is usually noted by O&M Operations. O&M Operations consults the duty roster depending on the issue and initiates contact with the appropriate individual for recall. The employee called in earns time for the event from arrival to completion of job and travel time is not compensated. If the employee called in is not on-call then the normal 4 hour minimum time applies and travel time is not a compensated item. If an employee (not on-call) has clocked out for the day, the 4 hour minimum time applies regardless of other timing concerns. XII. CALL-IN FOLLOW-UP: The Operations Supervisor will initiate a work order request through the I-Service Desk, which will account for the on call time, log the discrepancy, and initiate repair. XIII. COMMUNICATION: 1. An employee normally will be called back to UTSA by O&M Operations. 2. Upon completion of work, the on-call employee must discuss the solution with the Operations supervisor and advise his supervisor as to the disposition of the problem. 3. The supervisor shall note and monitor employee call-in time and hours worked. In the event an emergency occurs, the Assistant Director O&M should be contacted who will inform the chain of command.. Page 7 of 24

8 Attachment B Page 8 of 24

9 Attachment B On Call Pay Calculations Calendar Year 2014 Week Date Work Days Holiday Weekend Page 9 of 24 Cost Plumber Cost Electrician Cost Mechanical Maintenance Cost Facilities Control and Monitoring 1 Dec 30-Jan $ $ $ $ Jan 5-Jan $ $ $ $ Jan 12-Jan $ $ $ $ Jan 19-Jan $ $ $ $ Jan 26-Feb $ $ $ $ Feb 2-Feb $ $ $ $ Feb 9 - Feb $ $ $ $ Feb 16-Feb $ $ $ $ Feb 23-Mar $ $ $ $ Mar 2 - Mar $ $ $ $ Mar 9 - Mar $ $ $ $ Mar 16-Mar $ $ $ $ Mar 23-Mar $ $ $ $ Mar 30 - Apr $ $ $ $ Apr 6 - Apr $ $ $ $ Apr 13 - Apr $ $ $ $ Apr 20 - Apr $ $ $ $ Apr 27 - May $ $ $ $ May 4 - May $ $ $ $ May 11 - May $ $ $ $ May 18 - May $ $ $ $ May 25 - May $ $ $ $ Jun 1 - Jun $ $ $ $ Jun 8 - Jun $ $ $ $ Jun 15 - Jun $ $ $ $ Jun 22 - Jun $ $ $ $ Jun 29 - Jul $ $ $ $ Jul 6 - Jul $ $ $ $ Jul 13 - Jul $ $ $ $ Jul 20 - Jul $ $ $ $ Jul 27 - Aug $ $ $ $ Aug 3 - Aug $ $ $ $ Aug 10 - Aug $ $ $ $ Aug 17 - Aug $ $ $ $ Aug 24 - Aug $ $ $ $ Aug 31 - Sep $ $ $ $184.50

10 Attachment B 37 Sep 7 - Sep $ $ $ $ Sep 14 - Sep $ $ $ $ Sep 21 - Sep $ $ $ $ Sep 28 - Oct $ $ $ $ Oct 5 - Oct $ $ $ $ Oct 12 - Oct $ $ $ $ Oct 19 - Oct $ $ $ $ Oct 26 - Nov $ $ $ $ Nov 2 - Nov $ $ $ $ Nov 9- Nov $ $ $ $ Nov 16 - Nov $ $ $ $ Nov 23-Nov $ $ $ $ Nov 30 - Dec $ $ $ $ Dec 7 - Dec $ $ $ $ Dec 14 - Dec $ $ $ $ Dec 21 - Dec $ $ $ $ Dec 28 - Jan $ $ $ $ Totals $9, $9, $9, $9, Grand Total $39, Page 10 of 24

11 Attachment C Page 11 of 24

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15 Attachment C Page 15 of 24

16 Attachment D Page 16 of 24

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20 Attachment E Page 20 of 24

21 Attachment E Page 21 of 24

22 Attachment E Page 22 of 24

23 Attachment E Page 23 of 24

24 Attachment F Page 24 of 24

25 3/10/2015 Fact Sheet New On Call Policy Effective April 6, 2015 Plumbers Fire/Techs 26 weeks COMPENSATION $22.50 per day on call standby pay (weekday) $36.00 per day on call pay ( weekend day) ($ per week) Earn time from arrival on site to completion of job (no travel time) A Special Payment Request Form is submitted each week by the employee on call and signed by the Supervisor and routed to the Senior Admin and Director Pay is received on the nearest monthly check depending on time of month REQUIREMENTS 15 minutes to respond to call out request from Operations/other 1 hour to be on site Scheduled Employee responsible for arranging any changes in schedule with Supervisor who works with Senior Admin Subject to disciplinary actions for failure to respond and perform duty Electricians On Call List Mech Maint KEY CONTACTS: David Oliver Assistant VP for Facilities Enos Jones Director O&M Main Campus Ron Woltersdorf Director O&M DTC/ITC Sylvia Ruiz Senior Admin Jessica Saucedo Senior Admin EMPLOYEES NOT ON On Call List 15 minutes to respond to call out request from Operations/other 1 hour to be on site Receives minimum of 4 hours of earned time plus anything over this amount to complete job ( no travel time) Subject to disciplinary actions for failure to respond and perform duty ON CALL LIST Managed by Senior Admins and Directors from 1604/Down Town/Institute of Texan Cultures campuses Consolidation of On call staff from all 3 campuses (May be called to respond to any of the 3 campuses)