After-hours Road Service Calls

[BNC173]

We are a small rural shop; my guys are on salary and average 55-60 hours a week. Between the salary & bonus plan I think we are fair on our pay. We only charge 65.00/hour for mech work but our main shop is a tire shop, so we don't get into much other stop besides brakes or light mech work. The shop stays very busy that we some nights must stay late to get everyone taken care of. 1 employee focuses on the mech. part & helps with tires, the other is mainly tire & office sales & paperwork. There are a few times a month that the tire guy will need to do an afterhours call from anything from a jump start to a tractor tire repair. I want to compensate him for his extra work but not sure how to figure something simple & fair. I also don't want to make it something that they will start running more after ours because they will get more pay then if they were able to go out & do during reg business hours. Anyone with idea what they do hate to give profit away we still need to pay for the truck & fuel?

[Charlie]

First, I would caution you that I do not believe your people qualify to be paid salary, to read the rules which were revised last year CLICK HERE. This rule change exists because of situations just like yours (no offense). Here is what you are risking by skirting the rules. let's say you have a disgruntled employee who goes to the labor board and they determine that you were paying your people on a salary yet they did not qualify AND they were working more than 40 hours per week. The DOL goes back three years, determines the employees average rate of pay per hour and charges you with a fine and you now have to pay all employees time and a half for all overtime they worked. 

All of our shops operate differently, and sometimes convenience is really important but it can be abused. Another thing to consider is that we are are always training our customers what to expect, by being too convenient it is possible that your customers are abusing your graciousness and expecting too much from you and your people, possibly jeopardizing your most valuable asset; your employees. 

Only you can determine what is best for you. Protect yourself from being sued or atleast research the risk so you aren't surprised if it happens. 

[Hands On]

65 an hour? When is the last time you called around to see average hourly shop rates? I know each market is different, but we are at 127 an hour and I think we could do another bump.

I second on the salary thing. Make sure they are commission in your accounting software, then you can pay a base plus commission.