Must companies compensate hourly employees who are required to remain “on call” during off-duty time?

Whether or not employees are paid depends on how much control the employer exercises over its employee. If employees are completely unrestricted in their use of time for their own purposes, the time need not be compensated. If employees are unduly restricted by geography or have a restrictive response time imposed on them or are not permitted to swap out on-call duties with colleagues, the time may be compensable.