Work at home adds risk

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The proliferation of employer-required cell phones, pagers, computers and other wonders of a modern mobile-workplace are to credit or blame for the fact that 90 percent of Americans now say they take their work home, reports the latest "America At Work" public opinion survey.|ret||ret||tab|

The survey was commissioned by the Employment Law Alliance and released during the annual meetings of the Society for Human Resource Management. |ret||ret||tab|

Twenty percent of the workers surveyed said their employer's compensation policies for working outside the office "take advantage" of them.|ret||ret||tab|

Rosalee McNamara, an attorney at Lathrop & Gage in Kansas City, and the Missouri and Kansas representative of the ELA, the world's largest practice network of labor and employment law attorneys, says the poll of 1,000 adults could have a profound impact on the American workplace. |ret||ret||tab|

"Technology has created a 24-hour workplace, but there are hazards, legal and otherwise, in creating a 24-hour employee when that employee is not a member of management," she said. "The poll suggests why we're seeing employee class-action suits over uncompensated time for work performed outside the regular workplace. Organizations large and small, private and nonprofit have to confront this issue."|ret||ret||tab|

The national poll of 1,000 men and women, conducted by Reed Haldy McIntosh & Associates, of Media, Pa., focused on nonexempt employees, those whose work hours are legally regulated and who are entitled to overtime compensation. |ret||ret||tab|

The survey showed:|ret||ret||tab|

93 percent of workers said they spend some time away from their regular workplace responding to work-related e-mail, voice mail, pages or some other electronic form of work-related communication.|ret||ret||tab|

Of those workers, only 20 percent said they received some payment for their work, while 53 percent said they were not paid at all.|ret||ret||tab|

19 percent said they were not compensated for the extra time worked because they chose not to ask for either overtime or compensatory time.|ret||ret||tab|

5 percent said while they were not compensated directly, they did receive some benefit for that extra time worked, such as extra time off.|ret||ret||tab|

90 percent said that they spend some time conducting work-related activities other than responding to e-mails, voice mails, or pages, at home or away from the office.|ret||ret||tab|

Of those workers, 29 percent said they were paid for their time, while 35 percent said they were totally uncompensated.|ret||ret||tab|

27 percent said they did not ask for either compensation or comp time in return for that extra time worked.|ret||ret||tab|

9 percent of them said they were not directly compensated but were given extra time off, or some other benefit for extra time worked.|ret||ret||tab|

20 percent of the workers said they believe that their employer is "taking advantage" of them through their current compensation policies relating to work performed outside the regular workplace.|ret||ret||tab|

Survey director Dr. Theodore Reed, who with ELA created the "America. At Work" series nearly two years ago, said employers might find satisfaction in the fact that 76 percent of the workers sampled did not believe they are being taken advantage of through existing compensation policies.|ret||ret||tab|

"However, I would be concerned about a false sense of security due to the fact that there is such a small undecided when it comes to this question," Reed said. "The fact that two out of 10 workers are unhappy and feel unrewarded is a significant problem that demands prompt attention."|ret||ret||tab|

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