This one made me think. I have mixed feelings about the people who are sueing T-Mobile for back pay and OT because they were working outside normal hours on business. On one side, if T-Mobile was requiring them to work after hours AND punished them for not working then they did push the envelope and should be in hot water. On the other side, the culture of the young working professional is as such. They perform these functions (working after hours, answering emails, responding the customers through their mobile devices) as a large part of their lives. They are communicating with clients and potential clients through social media. Why these professional do this is because most business is client driven and the clients know this all to well. The most responsive and social business professional usually gets the deal. Most of the time, it is not price the client is buying but the person. T-Mobile must have really pushed this too far for them to get into this deep of trouble, but then I wouldn’t put anything past a lawyer and a disgruntled employee.
Dangers of letting non-exempt workers go home with cell phones.
Thanks to Mandy Blackford at the San Diego Employers Association for this post on a lawsuit brought on by employer denying a job based on a pregnancy by leaving a message on their answering machine. Just plain nutz!