Critical.
Authoritative.
Strategic.
Subscribe to CIO Magazine »

Blog: Should BlackBerry Users Demand Overtime Pay? Some Lawyers Advise Drafting Corporate Use Policies Now

Page:

They don't call 'em CrackBerrys for nothing.

Research in Motion's (RIM) BlackBerry smartphone, along with a wide variety of Web-enabled mobile phones like Apple's popular iPhone, Windows Mobile and Nokia devices, can be downright addictive to some folks.

Addiction to anything, be it illicit drugs or cutting-edge gadgets, is unhealthy. In fact, Merriam-Webster defines addiction as: "Persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful." I think some BlackBerry users might argue their precious devices aren't harmful-and they're not really substances-but others more familiar with the dreaded BlackBerry Thumb and its potential health impediments would be more likely to agree that device obsession is a problem.

But another issue is coming to light as more and more businesspeople pick up BlackBerrys: What 24/7 smartphone connectivity, which is the first step on the road to BlackBerry addiction, means to the businesses and corporations that issue such devices to their employees.

A recent fracas between ABC-TV, a handful of its writers and producers and the Writer's Guild of America East (WGAE) may be a harbinger of things to come. To make a long drama short, ABC staffers requested that they be compensated by the company for time spent on their BlackBerrys outside of normal working hours, according to CBSNews.com. At first ABC denied the request, saying an "agreement" between the company and its employees had been in place for years that states no overtime pay would be doled out to writers with company BlackBerrys, Telegraph.co.uk reports. ABC then issued waivers to its BlackBerry users asking them to acknowledge that they may be required to use their smartphones during off hours without any additional pay.

That's when the WGAE stepped in and instructed the writers not to sign or agree to the terms within the document, which prompted ABC to revoke the non-compliant writers and producers' BlackBerrys, according to Broadcasting & Cable magazine.

Shortly thereafter, the disagreement was reportedly settled, with the return of the confiscated BlackBerrys and the agreement on the part of ABC to compensate its staffers who use their mobile devices "beyond routine." So, in effect, ABC said it will pay the BlackBerry users who employ their devices most frequently for work outside of traditional hours. And you can bet the company also created its own official corporate smartphone overtime compensation policy, to help avoid such confusion in the future.

This approach of creating an official BlackBerry overtime policy, is becoming common-though I suspect few companies are actually agreeing to pay for afterhours smartphone use. In fact, a number of attorneys suggest that organizations follow ABC's lead and draft BlackBerry-use policies before they're brought to court by disgruntled employees or workers claiming to be suffering from related health ailments like carpal tunnel syndrome.

Page:

Join the CIO Australia group on LinkedIn. The group is open to CIOs, IT Directors, COOs, CTOs and senior IT managers.

More about: ABC, Apple, BlackBerry, Merriam-Webster, Motion, Nokia, RIM, Roth, WEBSTER
References show all

Comments

Post new comment

The content of this field is kept private and will not be shown publicly.
Users posting comments agree to the CIO comments policy.
Login or register to link comments to your user profile, or you may also post a comment without being logged in.
Related Whitepapers
Latest Stories
Community Comments
Latest Blog Posts
Whitepapers
  • Virtualisation and Cloud Computing: Optimised Power, Cooling, and Management Maximises Benefits
    While the benefits of this technology and service delivery model are well known, understood, and increasingly being taken advantage of, their effects on the data center physical infrastructure (DCPI) are less understood. The purpose of this paper is to describe these effects while offering possible solutions or methods for dealing with them. Read this whitepaper.
    Learn more »
  • Enterprise Buyers Guide for Printers
    Every enterprise owns, and regularly replaces, printers, copiers, multifunctional products and fax machines. The problem most face is not too few choices, but too many. How do you even begin to select the right one? Here is the Computerworld guide to buying a printer for the enterprise.
    Learn more »
  • Fixing Your Dropbox Problem - How the Right Data Protection Strategy Can Help
    It’s estimated that more than 50 million people have used public cloud storage services such as Dropbox to share and exchange files. Public cloud services are so easy to use that their openness can undermine existing IT policies regarding the transmission of confidential data. With data volumes threatening to overwhelm onsite storage, IT managers are looking to find a solution that’s affordable and secure. This paper details a simple three-step approach to helping users manage access to the public cloud without placing your data or your business at risk. Read on.
    Learn more »
All whitepapers
rhs_login_lockGet exclusive access to Invitation only events CIO, reports & analysis.