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Per Diem/On Call Guidelines

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losthr

Junior Member
What is the name of your state (only U.S. law)? CA

Is there a checklist out there on hiring per diem or on call staff? I sometimes need help in my office but I cannot afford to have a staff all the time. If I stop scheduling the per diem/on call staff when I don't need help anymore will I be opening myself to possible unemployment claims? Thank you.
 
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commentator

Senior Member
The good news is that if you haven't been working them a lot, they will not be drawing at lot of unemployment that will be charged to your unemployment tax account. The charging to your tax account is done on the basis of how much wages you have actually paid into the system for them during the claim period.

The bad news is that if you are a business that has frequent fluctuations in your employment needs, puts people on, lets them go when they aren't needed due to the work load, then yes, you will be paying from your taxes, at least some of their unemployment. You legitimately have put them out of work through no fault of their own, even if they understood the nature of the work when they accepted it. As long as they are working all the hours you have available for them, they may be able to draw during the weeks you do not have work for them, or work for you some and draw part of an unemployment claim and still work the hours you have for them. But this is not bad for you, it's the legitimate cost of doing business. If you want to keep people in an "on call" or per diem situation, and they are eligible for unemployment benefits because of it, then this is what unemployment insurance is designed to be and do.
 

commentator

Senior Member
There's a cost to the employer for this too, and part of that cost is that when you work these guys through the temp agency, then the temp agency will have to pay when they have those periods of being out of work/unemployment claims based on your intermittent staffing. You have to count the cost of both things, decide which way is best for your business.
 

FlyingRon

Senior Member
Almost any time you personally hire staff like this they will be an employee. The only thing that will make it easier is that if they are an employee of some other company you contract with (be it a temp agency or a shared call center or whatever). Trying to "scam" these guys as independent contractors will usually end up biting you eventually.
 

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