mustangflyboy

I work for a pt 135 cargo and pax company. Schedule is 2 weeks on 2 weeks off. There is s pseudo base where mx normally takes place and where the aircraft usually located but not always; the aircraft are "floating". They could be anywhere in the U.S. when my rotation starts and I get airlined out and crew it for 2 weeks straight. On call 24 hrs a day. I am required to respond immediately and be wheels up in 1 hour of call.
Management says that I am considered part time and will only receive compensation as such and that I can't expect "full time" industry pay for my aircraft.
They said in order to be considered full time, I would have to move to the "base" and be on call 24/7/365.
Am I wrong to completely disagree? Being on call for 14 days straight is giving the company my restricted time of 336 hours; waaay more than a 9-5 job would put in in a given month....
Looking for a some way to argue for full time pay...Or am I way off base here.......?

Walkeraviator

Refer to my response in the Fractional thread

Jetlife

I would quit that dump and RUN. First of all, being on call 24/7 is completely illegal. There isn't a grey area, it isn't up for discussion, it isn't up for debate.

Second, you are correct, if you are on call, then you are obligated for the job, every single minute of 2 weeks. No state in this country would rule that as part time work.

The only thing you are off base on, is asking this question instead of telling this dirtbag company to shove it.

mustangflyboy

Yeah, I hear what your saying, I had the "on call" discussion with them a while back. It just appears that POI's just seem to look the other way and I know of many other operators that do the same thing. The operator I was at prior, did as well, but there were 0 days off. They would retroactively designate the req 13/qtr days off to the ones we didn't happen to fly. Needless to say I wasn't there very long. At least here I have hard days off.
Believe me, I would love to have the "on call=duty " enforced. Although, it would certainly send large ripples through the 135 cargo industry. But if everyone would abide by it then the customers that have to have those parts would just have to accept and work with it.

It's ironic that I just got a call from a guy I haven't talked to in years and he mentioned the FAA recently issued a major statement regarding Duty and Rest interpretations. It will be brought up to the higher ups for sure. As well as the argument for "full time" compensation. Wish me luck.

Jetlife

Being professional, is doing the right thing when nobody is looking. Just doing something because the FAA doesn't know about it, is unprofessional, the company you work for is unprofessional. There have been several LOIs issued by the Chief Councel over the past 15 years regarding this. Your best bet is to leave.

Walkeraviator

I'm with jetlife on this. Punch out before you or the company is violated by the FAA. I get that you need to find other employment first, but get out as soon as you can. I worked for a 135 operator that did the "duty started when your pager goes off" thing until the FAA chief counsel came out saying that you cannot be on call and rest at the same time. That company did the appropriate thing and gave us 12 hour callout windows.

Jetlife

Keep in mind too, that you are copable of the companycgeys violated. It's the responsibility of the operator AND crew member to comply with duty and rest rules. If ANYTHING happens wherecthe FAA starts poking in, it will go bad for them and you. Not worth it for a company that isn't willing to treat you like a full time enployee.

frmrbuffdrvr

Jetlife and I may have some disagreements on some issues. But on this issue of duty/rest we are in total agreement. Being on call 24/7 in a 135 situation is totally illegal. When they call you they are basically saying "You were retroactively on rest for the past 8/9/10 hours (depending on the part of the reg you are looking at.)"

I don't normally drink, but the best way to look at this that I have heard is you were only on rest if you could have legally had a beer at the start of the period. In the 24/7 situation, if you were to have a drink, you wouldn't be legal to show up to fly until 8 hours later. Does your schedule allow for that?

Now the full time/part time question isn't really an aviation question. The answer to that, IMHO, is who has control of your schedule. Do you have the option of which days you are scheduled to work? Then you are part time. Do they say you have to come in the days we call you? Then you are full time.

mustangflyboy

Thanks for the input here guys.

mojo6911

Impressive. Not only are they violating FAA regulations, they're violating IRS and state employment laws, as well.