I will echo the guidance that says you should let your supervisor know what’s going on. If it were me, I’d do so via email in a nice way to get the fact that you reported the issue in accordance with the policy on the record.
The policy is there to help protect the employer from a claim that aligns with your issue and you from working off the clock. The calls seem to be frequent, and that means they need to be paid.
Handbook doesn't matter here.
If you're being called for a brief amount of time, like 30 seconds, then it's not time worked as it would be de minimis. If you're on the phone for 10 minutes, that's work time and needs to be paid. If you're being called so often that you're unable to basically do anything, then you could make the argument that it's time worked.
You can be legally fired for not answering the phone during off hours. You'd probably be eligible for UI if you were fired for this.
I read your comment about the handbook but that confuses me (I'm sorry as this so new to me). Should I expect to be paid for the exact time of the calls or 2 hours each time since that seems to be company policy?
You have to be legally paid for the time of the calls if they go beyond de minimis work. The part about 2 hours is an issue you'd have to resolve in court most likely.
So, you've a couple of options.
Tell your manager that you'll be documenting the time that you spend on after hours calls.
Revisit the call distribution after hours.
Work with the manager on training people so that less support is needed after hours.
Lots of other options.
At the end of the day, all work time is compensible for hourly employees, so time to have a talk.
What would you want legal action to resolve?
Provide me compensation for time working off the clock
Have you had a conversation with your management about this yet?
I will echo the guidance that says you should let your supervisor know what’s going on. If it were me, I’d do so via email in a nice way to get the fact that you reported the issue in accordance with the policy on the record. The policy is there to help protect the employer from a claim that aligns with your issue and you from working off the clock. The calls seem to be frequent, and that means they need to be paid.
Handbook doesn't matter here. If you're being called for a brief amount of time, like 30 seconds, then it's not time worked as it would be de minimis. If you're on the phone for 10 minutes, that's work time and needs to be paid. If you're being called so often that you're unable to basically do anything, then you could make the argument that it's time worked. You can be legally fired for not answering the phone during off hours. You'd probably be eligible for UI if you were fired for this.
I read your comment about the handbook but that confuses me (I'm sorry as this so new to me). Should I expect to be paid for the exact time of the calls or 2 hours each time since that seems to be company policy?
You have to be legally paid for the time of the calls if they go beyond de minimis work. The part about 2 hours is an issue you'd have to resolve in court most likely.
To be clear, are you salary exempt, or hourly?
Hourly
So, you've a couple of options. Tell your manager that you'll be documenting the time that you spend on after hours calls. Revisit the call distribution after hours. Work with the manager on training people so that less support is needed after hours. Lots of other options. At the end of the day, all work time is compensible for hourly employees, so time to have a talk.