Labor & Employment Law

Lawsuits Spur from After Hours PDA Use

As predicted, the concerns about after-hours cell phone and PDA use without compensation have come to full fruition.  According to a recent WSJ article, several employees of T-mobile have sued the firm alleging that they were required to respond to messages after work and did not receive compensation for it.  In addition, several months ago an employee of CB Richard Ellis made similar allegations.

While the article suggests that employers may be promoting the practice of employees conducting business on their cell phones and PDA's after hours, I think one of the real concerns is the employee who sets up and utilizes such tecnology on his own.  Many employees use their own cell phones and check email from home.  The unwary employer may find that this same seemingly hard-working employee may become disgruntled and turn that extra time of which the employer was not even aware into an wage and hour claim.

Follow this link to:  Lawsuits Question After-Hours Demands of Email and Cellphones

Thanks to Labor Prof Blog for bringing this to my attention.  I actually never had time to read my WSJ yesterday.  Just got back from a Carribean vacation and figuring out how to drive on the right side of the road again!

Full post as published by Strategic HR Lawyer on August 11, 2009 (boomark / email).