We are a school that teaches developmentally disabled adults, and we want to tell our teachers that they are not allowed to use their cell phones while class is in session. Will we get in trouble if we do this? — A School in Los Angeles
Just as a teacher could ask all of his or her students to turn off cell phones before class starts, an employer can ask the same of the teacher running the class. The general rule is that employers are permitted to regulate employees’ time while the employees are on the clock and supposed to be working. It is completely appropriate, and recommended, that employers in all lines of work have a policy that prohibits employees from talking on their personal cell phones during work time. This is especially true when you consider that your employees are responsible for students in a classroom setting. Requiring a teacher’s undivided attention in the classroom is important for a number of safety reasons, as well as setting a good example for the students.
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Address this issue by establishing a policy that prohibits using company time for personal activities. With today’s technology, workers have many distractions (cell phones, instant messaging, and iPods, to name a few) that can take away from their jobs, and it is important to have a policy to point to when disciplining someone who conducts personal activities during work time.
Employees may try to claim that you, as an employer, cannot regulate their personal activities. For example, California Labor Code Section 96(k) authorizes the state labor commissioner to pursue claims on behalf of employees for “loss of wages as the result of demotion, suspension, or discharge from employment for lawful conduct occurring during nonworking hours away from the employer’s premises.”
But employers do not run afoul of this and other prohibitions, such as a potential invasion of privacy claim, when the employer has a policy that regulates an employee’s use of his or her time on the clock.
However, keep in mind that you cannot regulate employees’ rest breaks, lunch breaks, and any other off-the-clock time, and you must allow them to conduct personal business during these times.
Anthony J. Zaller, Esq., is a partner at the Los Angeles law firm Van Vleck Turner & Zaller, LLP.