Chicago Overtime Lawsuit–Answering Cell & Emails Is Working

The lawsuit in Chicago about whether or not police officers answering issued cell phones and email accounts after hours presents an interesting situation.  What if you also have an employee who is charged with handling the Social Media account and you don’t have them salaried but are trying to save costs by paying them M-F 8-5 and as close to minimum wage as you can get it?

There are all sorts of high-ranking employees where I can see this would just be covered in a salary and a non-issue. But what about hourly employees?

Not having seen the totality of the suit’s claims, it’s hard to say, but it poses and interesting question. Particularly if you want to lump Social Media interactions and the consistency of one person’s “voice” into your SM feed. What then?

Is this an issue that could affect your own business?

How do you handle employees and their requirements to take calls, answer emails and maybe even interact on Twitter when they’re “off the clock?”

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