I work for a small company (<20 employees). I am paid hourly and I am part time. My coworker is paid hourly and is full time. This question is regarding both of us. I tried looking up the state specific answer online but I’m not allowed to access the website that apparently has the answer I need while at work.

On to the specifics:

Before my time, the company entered into a contract with two customers and agreed that on occasion, they would receive samples for testing on weekends. The people in my position prior were consulted and asked if they would agree to do weekend testing. At the time, they lived within walking distance of work and they agreed. The testing is time sensitive and requires a 24 hour check and return of results to the customer. So if a sample is received on Friday, the results must be read 24 hours later on Saturday and results are invalid per federal (it might be too identifying to say which agency) rules if it is outside the time limit. That part is non-negotiable.
However, sometimes a sample will arrive Saturday or Sunday per the prior contract, but as an employee, I am not notified until 5-9 am the morning the sample will arrive. I am also not given a specific time frame and have sometimes arrived to no sample being present, despite the notification email. I cannot make reasonable plans for my weekends I am responsible for because I don’t know until the morning of each day if I have to go into work.

Currently, my coworker and I switch off which weekends we are responsible for. When we arrive at work for the weekend, we clock in and are paid for our time at work. If we are under 40 hours, our office comptroller rounds up and gives us a full hour. If we are over 40 hours, we are paid for the minutes we are clocked in. The work we do is often 20 minutes or less of on the clock time for the test. More if more samples are sent in.

Are we considered on call? Are we being fairly compensated for the work being done? Is this worth bringing to a lawyer? Non-lawyer people who’ve heard about this are offended on my behalf that we’re not being paid for being on call, or being paid extra for work in addition to our 5 days/week 9-5 hours that we already put in. I’d rather get a legal opinion and have facts on my side before bringing it up to my employer.

Thanks for any help you can offer, even if it’s to say I don’t have ground to stand on.