Labor & Employment
Are BlackBerry Overtime Suits Coming?
Posted Apr 22, 2008, 11:21 am CDT
By Molly McDonough
Lawyers love and love to hate their BlackBerrys. So any ABAJournal.com post on the topic usually spurs debate.
But the Wall Street Journal Law Blog, referencing a recent National Law Journal story, asks whether the ubiquitous devices will fuel labor and employment litigation.
The speculation is that litigation could be “just around the corner,” with employees cashing in on the overtime hours they've spent monitoring work, responding to clients and assignments from supervisors.
“We’ll see it; it’s only a matter of time,” Jeremy Roth, a lawyer in the San Diego office of Littler Mendelson, is quoted saying. Roth says he tells clients to get policies in place, and now.
"Before there was at least an argument that no, the employee is not being truthful when they say, ‘I did all this work after hours.’ But now, that swearing contest is taken out of the mix," Roth says.
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Comments
Posted by Salaried Associate - 2 months, 1 week, 5 days, 15 hours, 30 minutes ago
I am unaware of any hourly workers who are given mobile devices by their employers.
Who are you going to sue if you’re salaried? They’re paying you to do the job, not for your time. Why do you think so many jobs that were traditionally hourly are now salaried? Overtime.
Posted by msg - 2 months, 1 week, 5 days, 13 hours, 7 minutes ago
Just because a job is salaried does not relieve the employer of liability from overtime laws. Ignorant employers think it does but it does not!