NO labor violations in this post.....

what you have explained as 'on-call" does NOT meet the definition of work hours

see:

http://www.dol.gov/whd/regs/compliance/w¦

if the vet has to hire another tech to work as needed it stands to reason that new tech will need other hours as well....those other hours have to come from someplace and taking them from you is appropriate.......

you have been "a faithful employee for over 5 years!" but that does not change the fact that another person will need to be hired and will need to be rewarded with more hours.....

and what's up with..."( ah what a law suit right?)" ?

i do NOT see any type of law suit in what you have posted here.....

of course if you can afford the attorney you can always sue, just won't win anything by doing so........

EDIT:

to address your added information:

that is a big IF, and the same would be true regardless of who was working... this has nothing to do with your question or a violation of labor law.... you never even stated what these receptionist were doing, there are numerous procedures that they could assist with that do NOT require certification or licensing.....

and that is why i stated:

" i do NOT see any type of law suit in what you have posted here.....

of course if you can afford the attorney you can always sue, just won't win anything by doing so........"

you obviously know what you meant, and all the details BUT we only know what you actually put in the post, we are NOT mind-readers.........

and there is NO "us" that they would sue, it is the Veterinarian who would be sued (if it ever came to that)

Your state Department of Labor would be very, very, very interested in discussing the matter with your boss

To answer your question yes he can cut your hours for that matter he can fire you. But the real question you need to be asking is if he can legally have you on call with out paying you. On call is a murky area of labor law and several factors come into play.

While certain rules apply to the time you spend at work, if you're on-call during your off hours, different rules apply to determine whether you're considered to be at work during that time. Basically, if you're required by your employer to expend significant physical or mental energy, that's work time. As for on-call time, if you're required by your employer to be within 5 minutes of work, or less than 10 miles in a rural area, your on-call time may be considered work time.

Whether your on-call time is considered work time is dependent on the facts involved. The Wage and Hour Division has stated that if an employee ''is required to remain on call on the employer's premises or so close thereto that he cannot use the time effectively for his own purposes,'' the waiting time is considered hours worked under the FLSA and is compensable. On the other hand, an employee who is ''merely required to leave word at his home or with company officials where he can be reached'' after his regular working hours isn't entitled to compensation for his on-call time.

Factors to consider:

¢Is the employee required to remain on premises?

¢If allowed off premises, how far may the employee go during on-call time?

¢Is more than merely leaving your contact information with your employer required?

¢Is the employee allowed to freely use his or her own time while on-call?

¢How often is the employee actually called while on-call?

Employers do what they have to do I'm afraid. If this means the on call service he requires and you cannot meet this, then he can do what he likes within reason.

Tbh, he may well carry this out and as there are a shortage of jobs around, nobody is indispensible so a new hire will be ready to jump in first hand.

If there are four of you to do this, it should really pan out as two on call duties per worker not as many as he says ( I assume he will be on call as well ? ) and he realistically cannot expect you to be back at work at 7.30am if you are dealing with an emergency until the early hours.

Ask him and your colleagues to discuss this in more detail, have a fair and balanced on call rota for each person but you have to be paid for the hours you are at the surgery as this is against the law - he could at least offer you a call out payment as an incentive.

If he is having none of it, you will have to either go along with him, quit or decide to report your boss.

Does he pay if you come in?

just not for being on call?

sounds ok to me.