Overview
Linda Doyle explained that, although employee off-hours availability began with employers issuing pagers to a relative few, “Now it’s ’Here’s a smartphone and I expect you to check it,’ even if that’s not said.” If employees sue for uncompensated time, Ms. Doyle added, judges previously tended to rule that workers’ use of devices varied too much, but “now everyone has a smartphone and a lot of those employers at least tacitly suggest you be available 24/7, so courts are going to be a little more willing to see that as company policy.”
