b'DEVISING A POLICY ON DEVICESSMART PHONES AFTER HOURSBy Sandy SeayWeliveinadigitallyconnectedThe Department of Labor denes working time as any worldoflaptops,Wi-Fi,tablets,time an employee is suered or permitted to work. In smartphonesandsmartplain English, this means that you must pay an employee watches,whichisverydierentfor all of the time an employee is working, even if you from a few short years ago. Thedidnt authorize it, and even if you didnt know about it. If DigitalRevolutionismovingan employee is at the workplace, this is somewhat easier forwardatwarpspeed.to manage and control, but if an employee is working at Millennialsandtheyoungerhome,itbecomesmuchmoredicultanduncertain. generations,inparticular,dontHere are some examples and some recommendations.know what its like to write things downonapieceofpaper(youKey PrincipleIf a non-exempt employee is using his or knowthedenitionofyoungeryoungerthanhersmartphoneoncompany*business,athomeor me . . .). during non-work hours, this is compensable work time. The employee must record the time and it must count Today,virtuallyeverythingwedoisdigital.Iwasinatoward his or her total weekly hours.client meeting with my daughter recently and as I was*We are using the term "company" for convenience, but furiouslytakingnotesonmypapertablet,shewasthismaterialappliestoallemployers,whethera calmlydoingthesamethingonherdigitaltablet.Mycompany, church, bank, agency, educational institution, client friend said with a grin, This is the dierence in themedical oce, surgery center or other employer.generations! And, thus, we have a new denition for anSupervisors Calling Employees After Work old word, as has been the case so many times in theSometimes supervisors contact employees at home on Digital Revolutiondevice, which is to say, a mobiletheir smart phones. If so, they should be told that this is electronic communications tool. compensable work time for the employee and they must Theworkplacemirrorssocietyandwhatgoesoninmake sure employees record this time and are paid for it. societyisultimatelygoingtomakeitswayintotheEmployers may want to instruct supervisors not to call workplace. Examples include sexual situations at work,employees at home after working hours, unless it is an violenceintheworkplace,bullyingbehavioratworkemergencyorunlesstheyclearlyunderstandthatthis and . . . smartphones and other devices at work. Most ofafterworktimeonthesmartphoneconstitutes todaysemployeescometoworkwithasmartphone,compensable work time for the non-exempt employee.whichtheymayleaveonduringworkinghoursandCompanyProvidedPhonesvs.PersonalSmart checkfrequentlyduringtheday,allofwhichrequiresPhones employerstodevelopapolicyonSmartPhonesatFromapracticalview,itdoesnotmatterwhetherthe Work. employer provides the phone or whether the device is a When the workday ends, some non-exempt employeespersonalphoneownedbytheemployeeifthenon-take their smart phones home with them. So far so goodexemptemployeeisusingthephoneorotherdevice, untilthenon-exemptemployeebeginstousethelikeatablet,toconductcompanybusiness,itisstill smartphoneathometomakeoranswercalls,checkcompensable work time. However, if the employer tells email or to text message others at work. All of a sudden,the employee, We are providing you with this phone so we have a non-exempt employee doing work at home,that we can contact you whenever we need you, then work that must be recorded as work time and paid for bythe stage is set for compensable work time taking place the employer. after normal work hours and, if the employee later claims that he or she was working at home on the smart phone, it will be very hard to argue that the employer did not This principle applies to non-exempt employees only know about the compensable work time.exempt employees may use their smart phones as much as they like, with no wage and hour implications.Is On Call Time Regarded as Compensable Work Time?OnCallTimeiswhenanemployeeisoncallafter WORKING TIME ACCORDING TO THE DEPARTMENTworking hours, subject to being called in, if necessary. OF LABORAccording to Wage and Hour regulations, On Call Time is not compensable work time, so long as an employee isMidwest Drycleaning & Laundry Institutewww.MWDLI.org / 765-969-5745 8'