Working off the clock

As I go about my day, its becoming increasingly difficult to find people who don’t have some sort of smart phone with mobile email access. From Blackberrys to Treos to iPhones, they’re everywhere! It seems like almost everybody has one.

While this is great for the mobile carriers who are raking in on the data usage and of course it allows people to stay in touch; what happens when an employee checks her email during their ‘off hours’? Is she considered to be working? Is she entitled to overtime pay?

This is a very important question… one that is increasingly growing in importance as the scenarios which bring about such a question continue to mushroom. As more people get their hands on such technology and unwittingly just check their email in their ’spare’ time, their employers are being put at risk.

You see, if you are a non-exempt employee (properly classified of course) and you answer business emails and calls outside of your normal working hours, then for all intents and purposes, you are ‘working’ or considered to be ‘on the clock’. If you consider the FLSA as gospel, then you should be paid overtime.

The FLSA is pretty clear on when overtime starts. Of course, nothing is that simple. This is somewhat of a grey area… whether the employee was supposed to be working overtime, whether the overtime was pre-approved, etc are all good questions that should be addressed. But without a strong policy and a good time tracking tool, organizations could be left with their pants down.

What are you doing to protect your organization?