I am a nurse working at a nursing home. The new administrator has developed a new policy where the nurses (who have every other weekend off) will be required to sign up for a 24-hour shift to be “on call.” No mention of reimbursement of any kind has been offered. — Megan

J.T.: I did some checking and learned that some places offer minimal stand-by pay for being on call (such as $2/hour), then pay time and a half if you get called in. I suggest gently inquiring of the new administrator if there is any compensation coming. However, if it wasn’t mentioned when rolling out the new policy, my thought is that you won’t be seeing any additional pay.

Dale: Moreover, given the shortage of nurses, I suspect that management would not risk alienating nurses unless it was facing financial shortfalls, which may mean further squeezing. So it’s probably a good time to test the job market (perhaps by talking with a local staffing firm). You’ll find out what other places do about the on-call policies/pay, and you’ll soon determine if you’d be better off somewhere new.