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Does After Hours PDA Usage Equal Overtime?

There’s a new concern in the business world and if you’re a business owner, you may want to pay attention.  If you’re in the habit of issuing PDAs like Blackberrys, iPhones or other similar devices to non-exempt personnel, overtime issues may be in your future as a result of after-hours usage of these powerful devices.

Exempt or non-exempt categorization of employees is determined by the nature of the work that is being performed, not the actual job title or how the compensation is paid out.  A non-exempt employee is one whose job functions do not fall in the areas of Professional, Administrative or Executive employee.

Having non-exempt employees available by email and phone nearly 24/7 with smart phones and PDA devices may be great for business, but these individuals are actually eligible for time and one-half of their normal hourly wage when they go over 40 hours with a given work week.  Contacting these employees before and after their normal work hours may be easy, convenient, and productive, but it is presenting employers with a potential overtime dilemma.  These employees are essentially ‘working’ outside their normal schedule work time and probably over and above the 40 hour work week when responding to emails from customers, vendors, bosses and co-workers on these devices.

Using these devices after hours is presenting an overtime issue for employers and it may be impossible to defend based on the tracking that these PDA devices provide on the communication that happens through their utilization (calls, emails, text messages).  They essentially present a dual concern:

• More after hours work due to ease of use
• Ability for employees to ‘prove’ they were working due to the electronic tracking they provide

It’s highly recommended that businesses establish policies on after hours usage of these devices now before overtime issues arise.  Proactively incorporating policies in the present can protect an organization in the future if they find themselves in court defending the company against many costly employee overtime claims.