Overview
On-Call Hours are when no work is scheduled to be undertaken, but employees are expected to be able to resume work at short notice.
Employees are paid for all On-Call Hours and hold themselves In Readiness for Work for all On-Call Hours types.
| Type of On-Call hours | Clocked-in | Summary |
|---|---|---|
| On-Standby hours | Clocked-in | When employees are clocked on, but there is no work necessary to be completed. Urgent return to work may be required. |
| Tour Travel Hours | Clocked-in | When employees are traveling into or out of a Job by air. |
| Tour Travel Day | No clock-in required | When employees travel between cities when on tour, and where no on-site production work is planned. |
| Tour Day Off | No clock-in required | When an employee is not in their City of Residence, are mid-Job and a day or days when no work is scheduled occur. |
On-Call response times
The response times for On-Call hours varies based on the On-Call Hours type.
“Comms response time” means, how long it is acceptable for the requestor to expect a response from the messaged person (for example, to respond to a WhatsApp message).
“In person response time” means, how long it should take for an employee to arrive on-site ready to work, when requested.
| Type of On-call hours | Response time |
|---|---|
| On-Standby hours | Comms response time: Immediate In person response time: 5 minutes or less |
| Tour Travel hours | Comms response time: 10 minutes, when not on a Wi-Fi enabled flight In person response time: 60 minutes to arrive on site once in the destination city (traffic dependent) |
| Tour Travel Day | Comms response time: 10 minutes, when not on a Wi-Fi enabled flight In person response time: 60 minutes to arrive on site once in the destination city (traffic dependent) |
| Tour Day Off | Comms response time: 5 minutes In-person response time: 30 minutes to arrive on site (unless accom is more than 30m from a Job site, then the shortest reasonable and safe travel time to site applies) |
Summary of payment for On-Call Hours
Payment for On-Call Hours is always made at the contracted hourly rate.
| Type of On-Call hours | Hours paid |
|---|---|
| On-Standby hours | Per clocked-in work hours |
| Tour Travel Hours |
|
| Tour Travel Day | 7.6h |
| Tour Day Off | 7.6h |
Scheduling other duties while On-Call
Except by express agreement and where a work emergency requires it; employees will not be assigned to duties related to other Jobs while they are On-Call for their current Job.
The Schedule and On-Call shifts
On-Call shifts are entered in the Schedule for:
- Tour Travel Hours; entered per the flight details
- Tour Travel Day; entered as a 7.6h shift + the flight details as a separate shift
- Tour Day Off; entered as a 7.6h shift
During Jobs, there may be On-Standby Hours at irregular times, as called by the Technical Supervisor on the Job. It is likely these will not have much notice and therefore will never appear as a stand-alone shift in the Schedule.
On-Standby Hours
On-Standby Hours are when employees are clocked-on, but there is no work that can currently be completed. Examples include,
👉🏼Trucks were delayed, so employees are waiting for equipment to arrive before work can commence (and there is no other work to do)
👉🏼 Site is temporarily shut down due to inclement weather; employees remain on-site
👉🏼 Show is currently on, and there are no explicit duties
👉🏼 The show period (i.e., between changeovers) during a festival Job
👉🏼 Waiting for artist touring crew to show up for programming
👉🏼 Waiting for other departments to complete their work
Payment: Employees are paid their usual hourly rate for On-Standby Hours.
Large delays where no work is expected (for example, due to prolonged inclement weather or stage build delays) are more likely to become a Split Shift, where staff are instructed to clock-off and rest for a few hours. Total hours worked are likely to remain the same, but the time of day those hours are worked changes.
In some instances, these events may delay the work for several days resulting in a Paid Standdown.
Tour Travel Hours (TTH)
Tour Travel Hours are when employees travel by air to:
- Undertake Job prep at the MPH Warehouse; or
- Arrive at the location of a show or start city of a tour; or
- Return to their City of Residence or Home City after a show or tour
Employees clock-in for Tour Travel Hours.
Tour Travel Hours differ from a Tour Travel Day.
Payment: At the contract hourly rate for;
- 60 minutes before the flight’s Scheduled Departure Time
- [flight time]
- 30 minutes after the flight’s Actual Arrival Time
The time above is considered as hours worked for the purpose of calculating wages and entitlements, including counting toward Maximum Working Time. And for Weekly employees, any travel that occurs on an RDO, cancels the RDO out and an RDO accrues.
Actual flight departure and arrival times are checked during the Payroll Process, using the company’s paid membership to flightradar24.com which provides accurate, historic flight data.
For example,
✅ Sanjay is heading to the first show of a tour run the evening before load-in. He catches an on-time flight from MEL at 18:30 to SYD arriving at 20:00. He heads to the accommodation directly from the airport that night. Sanjay is paid for Tour Travel Hours from 17:30 to 20:30.
If an employee is traveling and then working on that same day, they are paid from 1h before the flight’s Scheduled Departure Time continuously through until the end of their workday, but they switch Jobs in Workforce from the Job travel code to the applicable Job work code.
For example,
✅ Asha catches a flight at 07:00 from MEL to ADL, then heads directly to the Job Site. When Asha arrives at the Job site, they switch from “Tour Travel Hours” to “Emil Chow 1998 > Load-in / Show / Load-out” in Workforce. Asha is paid from 06:00 (1h before the flight departure) to the end of their workday at 18:45.
If a flight departure is delayed, the Scheduled Time of Departure always applies.
For example,
✅ Kamran’s flight is scheduled to depart at 09:00. They get to the airport at 08:00 and clock in per this policy. The flight is delayed and does not actually leave until 10:15. Kamran’s shift is still considered to have started 1h before the Scheduled Time of Departure (08:00) despite the flight delay and Actual Time of Arrival is used to calculate the shift end time.
If travel time is less than the relevant Minimum Call Time, the Minimum Call Time applies
Tour Travel Day (TTD)
Tour Travel Days are when employees travel between cities when on tour, and when no on-site production work is planned. Typically, all MPH employees on a Job will share the same Tour Travel Days.
A Tour Travel Day applies to all employees, even those flying into their City of Residence during a tour.
Employees do not clock-in for Tour Travel Days.
A Tour Travel Day differs from Tour Travel Hours.
Payment:
- Casual employees are paid for 7.6h at their contract hourly rate
- Weekly employees – 7.6h count toward any entitlement to an offset payment.
- Actual travel time only contributes to Maximum Working Times.
For example,
✅ Four Melbourne based crew are working in Sydney on the same Job. They do a load-in on Monday and Tuesday, and have Show Days on Wednesday and Thursday. On Friday they travel from Sydney to Brisbane for the next show. The travel to Brisbane takes 4h, and no work is scheduled on site in Brisbane that day.
This is a Tour Travel Day, because it occurs in the middle of a Tour (not at the beginning or the end), and even though “work” (travel time) was only 4h, 7.6h are paid to casuals (or 7.6h count toward offsets for Weekly employees) but, only the travel time counts toward maximum working times.
✅ Kirby is the casual Technical Supervisor on a Job overseeing four crew. They are all scheduled for a Tour Travel Day (traveling from Melbourne to Perth) however, the Lighting Designer has decided to do some unscheduled pre-production work at the venue when the touring party arrives in Perth. Kirby now needs to be on-site to assist, requiring travel directly from the airport to the venue.
Travel commenced at 08:00 on the day (1h before the Scheduled Departure Time) and Kirby does not get off-site until 18:00 that same day. The total workday (including a 1h unpaid Meal Breaks) is 9h.
Because they are a casual employee, Kirby is paid for the total hours from the travel start time to the end of the workday.
If Kirby was a full-time employee, 9h would be added to their offset calculator to ensure they are paid correctly.
Tour Day Off (TDO)
A Tour Day Off is when an employee has no work allocated by the company while on a tour. Production Schedules created by MPH Clients nominate when a TDO will occur.
Employees do not clock-in for Tour Travel Days.
The Other duties while On-Call section of this policy always applies.
Payment:
- Casual employees are paid 7.6h at their contract hourly rate
- Weekly employees – 7.6h count toward any entitlement to an offset payment.
- This time does not contribute to the employee’s Maximum Working Times.
If an employee is not expected to be On-Call and is in their City of Residence, a TDO may be scheduled as an RDO (for Weekly employees) or as a day off (for Casuals). Employees are made aware of this with a minimum of 7-days’ notice so they can utilise the day off as they see fit (relax, work for someone else etc).
On occasion, an employee may be scheduled on several consecutive Jobs for MPH and have a TDO between the end of one Job and the start of the next. A TDO is only assigned in these cases if an employee is being accommodated by MPH or its clients, and the employee is away from their City of Residence. At other times, this is treated as a day off and is not paid.
For example,
Week 1
| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No work | No work | Tour Travel Hours into Job city (SYD) | Load-in (SYD) | Load-in (SYD) | Load-in + Show (SYD) | Show + Load-out (SYD) |
Week 2
| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tour Travel Day (SYD – BNE) | Tour Day Off (BNE) | Load-in (BNE) | Load-in (BNE) | Load-in + Show (BNE) | Show (BNE) | Show + Load-out (BNE) |
Week 3
| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Tour Travel Day (BNE – MEL) | Tour Day Off (MEL) | Load-in (MEL) | Load-in (MEL) | Load-in + Show (MEL) | Show + Load-out (MEL) | Tour Travel Hours (home) |
A Tour Day Off does not apply to Jobs where shows are not continuous i.e. there are breaks in between each Show Day, for example,
Show 1
| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No work | No work | No work | No work | Load-in (MEL) | Load-in + Show + Load-out (MEL) | No work |
Show 2
| MON | TUE | WED | THU | FRI | SAT | SUN |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| No work | No work | Tour Travel Hours to Job city (SYD) | Load-in (SYD) | Load-in + Show (SYD) | Show + Load-out (SYD) | Tour Travel Hours (home) |
The days off between shows (SUN, MON, TUE) are not Tour Days Off.
Employees are required to hold themselves In Readiness for Work on Tour Days Off but are not required to clock-on and off, unless assigned work.
Employees found to be in breach of the In Readiness for Work requirements, forfeit their entitlement to payment for a TDO.
If an employee is assigned work on a day that was scheduled as a TDO, the Schedule will be updated to show the employee worked (the TDO shift also remains in the Schedule).
Not all touring employees may have the same Tour Days Off at the same time. The roster is created based on the Job’s needs and the technical skills of staff required on-site. Meaning, some employees may be on a TDO while others are scheduled to work. See the Scheduled to work section for details on how employees are paid in these circumstances.
For example,
✅ Bobby is full-time employee. They live in Melbourne and are working on the Three Tenors Job in Sydney. The load-in was complete on Wednesday, and Bobby is allocated a Tour Day Off on Thursday (before the show on Friday) and is not allocated any work.
Bobby holds themselves In Readiness for Work on Thursday in case their services are needed on-site.
✅ Jai is a Casual employee who lives in Melbourne. He worked the load-in on a Job at Margaret Court Arena (in Melbourne) Wednesday and Thursday. Jai is not scheduled to work on the production day on Friday so is scheduled a Tour Day Off, but he will be back for the show and load-out on Saturday. A need arises to call crew in to work for 4h on Friday (scheduled as a Tour Day Off) and the Crew and Logistics Manager calls Jai to come in. Jai responds within 5 minutes per this policy.
Though Jai was on a Tour Day Off, he was being paid to be On-Call and was therefore holding himself In Readiness for Work. He is on-site within 30 minutes of the Crew and Logistics Manager’s request, ready to work and clocks-in.
Even though Jai only worked for 4h, he is still paid for 7.6h. If he worked more than 7.6h on the same day, he’d be paid for all hours worked.
❌ Full-time employee Mark lives in Melbourne. He’s working at a one-off show at Rod Laver Arena in Melbourne city. Mark did the load-in on Tuesday but isn’t needed again until Thursday for the load-out.
Wednesday is not considered a Tour Day off as Mark is not On-Call for the Job that day. He may instead have an RDO or Rest Day scheduled, if they’re owed. Or he may be required to work in the warehouse or on another Job.
In Readiness for Work
Sometimes employees are needed to be available, but not currently working – or are travelling on company business. Employees are paid in these situations and therefore hold themselves In Readiness for Work and, may be required to work at short notice.
Employees are being paid by MPH in these circumstances only;
- During Scheduled Working Times (per the roster)
- Of course, this is mostly when employees are paid!
- This includes during Meal Breaks. Though Meal Breaks are unpaid, employees are considered to be working in this context.
- During On-Call Hours (for example, during On-Standby Hours, Tour Travel Hours, Tour Travel Day or Tour Day Off)
- During the break of a Split Shift, only when explicitly stated by the Supervisor, on a case-by-case basis
During these times, employees hold themselves In Readiness for Work. This means employees;
- Are never under the influence of drugs or alcohol, per the Drug and Alcohol policy
- For example, drinking alcohol with a meal could cause the employee to breach the Drug and Alcohol policy as they could be called to work immediately to undertake high risk work after imbibing.
- Accept that work may be assigned at short notice
- This may vary by context, depending on the type of On-Call Hours
- Attend to calls to work promptly
- Be able to arrive to the Job site within 30 minutes from being requested (or the time it takes to travel from the airport or accom to the Job site)
- Are contactable by phone, email and instant message
- Response times on flights without Wi-Fi may be delayed until landing, this is acceptable
- Proactively check and respond to instant message chats and emails relevant to the Job
- With a response time of 5 minutes
- Do not accept work for another employer.
- Unless agreed to by the Company with the agreement that payment that would otherwise have been owed by MPH, is forfeited.
Some examples;
✅ Stef is on a scheduled Tour Day Off and is therefore On-Call. They must hold themselves In Readiness for Work. Stef heads out for lunch at a nearby café, then returns to their hotel room to watch a movie on their laptop. Their phone is on, just in case a work call or instant message comes in.
The Crew and Logistics Manager posts about a schedule change for tomorrow, and Stef responds a few minutes later with a 👌🏼 emoji to indicate they’ve received the message.
❌ Barry is the Kinesys Tech on this Job. On a Tour Day Off, Barry buys a six-pack of beers and takes them to watch a movie with a friend at a cinema in a distant suburb. He puts his phone on silent so he does not disturb other cinema patrons. The Technical Supervisor tries to call Barry repeatedly to address a major technical issue on site.
Not only is Barry non-responsive for 2.5 hours, when he finally checks his messages, he’s under the influence of alcohol and is unable to address the issue safely and responsibly on site.
This is not acceptable when holding oneself In Readiness for Work. 😕
Recommendations
Job schedules and the type of work employees undertake can be demanding, resting when the opportunity presents puts employees in the best position to respond to these demands and assists employees in being accountable for their own wellbeing.
Employees consider what rest means to them and does those things. This may mean:
- Read, watch streaming video services, play a video game
- Sleep
- Exercise
- Eat
Forfeiting payment for On-Call Hours
Employees may wish to negotiate arrangements to work for another company or enjoy personal time during On-Call Hours. If the employee is not required to be On-Call MPH will seek to accommodate these requests. In such circumstances, the employee forfeits payment from MPH for the On-Call period.
Employees found to be in breach of the requirements for holding oneself In Readiness for work and / or without making express prior agreement, forfeit their right to payment for the On-Call period and disciplinary action may apply.