PHILADELPHIA, PA (June 24, 2002) - The proliferation of employer-required cell phones, pagers, laptops, PC's and other wonders of a modern mobile-workplace are to credit - or blame - for the fact that half of Americans now say they take their work home, reports the latest "America At Work" public opinion survey commissioned by the Employment Law Alliance (ELA) and released here today during the annual meeting of the Society for Human Resource Management. Certain to be discussed at the meeting is the finding that 21% of the workers surveyed said their employer's compensation policies for working outside the office "take advantage" of them.

Stephen J. Hirschfeld, Esq., who heads 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. "The 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," he said. "The poll suggests why we're seeing a huge number of employee class-action suits over uncompensated time for work performed outside the regular workplace and that organizations - large and small, private and non-profit - have to confront this issue."

The national poll of 1,000 men and women, conducted by Reed Haldy McIntosh & Associates, of Media, Pennsylvania, focused on "non-exempt" employees, those whose work hours are legally regulated and who are entitled to overtime compensation. The poll was fielded within the past two weeks. Survey Director Dr. Theodore Reed outlined the results as follows:

E-Overtime
o 31% said they spend at least three hours a week away from their regular workplace responding to work-related e-mail, voice mail, pagers or some other electronic form of work-related communication.
o Among non-exempt workers, only 17% said they received some payment for their work while 55% said they were not paid at all.
o 22% said they were not compensated for the extra time worked because they chose not to ask for either overtime or compensatory time.
o 3% said while they were not compensated directly, they did receive some benefit for that extra time worked, such as extra time off.

Total Overtime
o 49% of employees said they spend at least three hours a week conducting work-related activities other than responding to emails, voice mails, or pagers, at home or away from the office.
o Among non-exempt workers, 27% said they were paid for their time while 31% said they were totally uncompensated.
o 31% said they did not ask for either compensation or comp time in return for that extra time worked.
o 11% of them said they were not directly compensated but were given extra time off, or some other benefit for that extra time worked.

Feelings about Overtime
o 21% of non-exempt 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.
o 47% of non-exempt employees putting in ten or more extra hours per week feel taken advantage of, compared to only 11% of those working three to ten hours outside of their regular schedule and 14% of those working less than three extra hours.
o 52% of non-exempt workers who do not ask to be compensated for their overtime feel taken advantage of compared to those who are compensated in some way (30%) or not compensated at all (19%), suggesting that it is fear rather than dedication that prevents many of these workers from asking for their due.

"There may be no bigger issue in the American workplace, especially if you are an employer with work locations in several states," said Hirschfeld. "Employers just can't say to non-exempt employees that they are expected to be on call around the clock but pay them for only the eight hours they work in an office." The highly publicized employee class-action suit against Intel over uncompensated time is but one example of how litigation arises out of these disputes, how state legislatures become deeply involved in workplace issues, and how organized labor sees one of their biggest organizing opportunities in decades.

He noted that the workers fighting Intel have their own website (www.faceintel.com) on which they are soliciting members of the plaintiff class, stating in part, "If Intel supplied the equipment (PC, notebook, printer, cell phone, fax machine, etc.) and had authorized you to access their computer system from home - for any work or duty that you performed from home over your daily 8 hours, you would be likely entitled to overtime."

Dr. Reed, who with ELA created the "America At Work" series nearly two years ago, said employers might find satisfaction in the fact that 76% of the workers sampled did not believe they are being taken advantage of through existing compensation policies. "However, I would be concerned about a false sense of security due to the fact that
more than half of those who have not asked to be paid felt that they were being taken advantage of through existing compensation policies. This finding, combined with the fact that two out of ten workers are unhappy and feel unrewarded is a significant problem that demands prompt attention."

Hirschfeld, a partner in the San Francisco-based law firm of Curiale, Dellaverson, Hirschfeld, Kraemer, & Sloan, LLP, will be presenting the poll's findings while attending the SHRM conference in Philadelphia beginning Sunday, June 23. He and Dr. Reed will be available for interviews at the Pennsylvania Convention Center on Monday, June 24. (Arrange an interview by contacting Ellen Warren, as noted above).