Is it legal for a work place to put an employee on call and only get paid if he or she gets called in and punch the clock?

It depends.  If employees who are on-call are not confined to their homes or any particular place, but are required only to leave word where they may be reached, the hours spent on-call are not regarded as working time. However, any payment for such on-call time, while not attributable to any particular hours of work, is paid for performing a duty connected with the job and must be included in the employee's regular rate. If an on-call employee is called out for a job assignment, the time spent on the assignment is hours worked and must be counted and paid for. For example, an employee paid $4.00 an hour works 40 hours and is paid $22 for being on-call over the weekend.  If called back for 4 hours of work, the pay is $160.00 (40 hours x $4.00) plus $22 on-call pay plus $16 straight-time pay for 4 overtime hours, or $198.00. Dividing the total earnings of $198.00 by 44 hours worked yields a regular rate of $4.50 an hour. One-half the regular rate times 4 overtime hours equals $9.00 overtime pay, making the total pay $207.00 for the week. www.OrlandoOvertimePay.com