Salaried - personal cell phone

TheresaD

I'm being told by my boss that I have to give my personal cell phone number to the managers because I am a salaried employee. Is this true???

Dutch2

Do you have to provide this information? Do they already have this data for all other managers? We maintain a list of all management staff with their addresses and phone numbers for our contingency and/or emergency contact information. To my knowledge no one has every objected to providing this information. If another employee(s) should begin calling for non-business reasons this would be addressed through the normal performance discipline program. Especially if this resulted in your phone bill going up to the additional calls.

NaeNae55

This is not a law, it is a company policy.

We do the same here. Legally, exempt employees are basically available 24/7, though no here every really has to come close to working that. Managers have a call list in case of emergency. Most numbers are home numbers, but some are cell. It depends on the position.

If you are uncomfortable about giving your cell phone number I suggest you ask questions. If nothing else, giving your home number might be enough. Also, if you are not comfortable they may decide they don't really need it. Talking things through is the best way to determine if they need it, and for you to be ok with it if they do.

Good luck!

ACU Frank

I would love it if our managers called me, rather than carefully select the absolute worst solution possible and run with it. It would save me a lot of grief on Monday mornings.

What is your specific objection?

Dasher

Yeah, I am with you on that, Frank.

Call me, PLEE-EEZ!

Holly Jones

Just as a point of clarification:

Salaried does not necessarily mean "exempt." Non-exempt employees may be paid on a salary basis, but still be subject to the overtime requirements of the FLSA. I think a lot of us mistakenly use the terms interchangeably, but they can have different implications, for example, in situations such as this one.

Hypothetically speaking, a salaried, but nonexempt, employee in this situation could be due overtime if the cell phone number were requested because the employee was actually required to be "on call" and available for the employer at any time (to the extent that personal activities outside of work hours are restricted). I don't think that's necessarily the case in this situation, but I did want to emphasize the importance of the distinction.

Paying an employee on a salaried basis does not, in and of itself, grant the employer carte blanche to have the employee be at its beck and call at all hours of the day with no concern for overtime liability.

Exempt status, however, pretty much does.