Hourly Workers Sue to Be Paid for After-Hours Cell Phone Use
Workers in two lawsuits contend they deserve to be paid for time spent after hours responding to work-related cell phone calls and messages.
The suits point out how the divide between work and leisure is being blurred by advances in technology, the Wall Street Journal (sub. req.) reports. “This is about ‘What is work?’ ” employment lawyer Dan McCoy of Fenwick & West told the newspaper.
One suit by current and former T-Mobile employees says they had to use company-issued smart phones to respond to customer complaints and other work-related messages after their work hours, the story says. The suit was filed in federal court for the Eastern District of New York.
The other suit was filed by John Rulli, a former maintenance worker at CB Richard Ellis Group Inc., in federal court for the Eastern District of Wisconsin. He contends he was required to quickly to respond to messages on his cell phone, no matter what the hour.
Both companies told the Wall Street Journal that they comply with wage-and-hour laws.
