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Can You Be Required to Use Your Personal Cell Phone at Work During a Phone Outage

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  • 06-09-2015, 05:50 PM
    Tingting223
    Can You Be Required to Use Your Personal Cell Phone at Work During a Phone Outage
    My question involves labor and employment law for the state of: Massachusetts.

    My employer hired me to be an on site advisor in education. At no point was working remotely mentioned or included in my offer letter, interview or job description. I was to report onsite, in office to do my job. That's fine and good until our phone systems/ internet went down. The first time it occurred we were told to use our own personal cell phones to continue calling leads (about 100 a day) and conduct student interviews (that last about 45 mins long). I understood the importance of making sure an appointment was kept and did not question it. A month later I saw my phone bill; which is not unlimited and the charges from dialing long distance numbers wracked things up. I am also part of a group plan and so I received overages. Whatever, I'll just expense my phone bill and pray phones don't go down again. Well the phones went down more and more and again I was asked to use my personal phone for work. It is now the go to method when our phones go down in the office. This has occurred a good 10 times now, including winters when the office was closed my boss told me again to just use my personal phone from home. Today the phones dropped and I was asked to use my personal phone and finally said no. I am tired of reporting to my place of employment ready to work and not having the means to do so by my employer. I am tired of fronting the money to do my job when nowhere was it ever disclosed to me that I would need to use my cell phone when their equipment on site goes down. Because I said no, I was then asked if I had a landline I could use to work from home tomorrow because phones are down apparently again tomorrow until noon. Am I really supposed to accommodate a home office and use my personal phone for an on site position? I now have to install a landline that hooks up through my laptop and somehow connects to our phone systems remotely? Somehow this doesn't seem right. I don't wish to be subordinate but nowhere in my job description does it disclose accommodating remote capabilities should technology go down at place of employment. What if I didn't own a cell phone? What if I didn't have internet at my home? I don't have a landline and my boss is angry with me for refusing to use my cell phone. Am I wrong here?
  • 06-09-2015, 05:57 PM
    cbg
    Re: I Do Not Work Remote but Told Now when Phone Systems Go Down to Use My Cell Phone
    Are you wrong to be upset? No.

    Is the employer doing anything illegal? Also no.
  • 06-09-2015, 06:07 PM
    Tingting223
    Re: I Do Not Work Remote but Told Now when Phone Systems Go Down to Use My Cell Phone
    Agreed. But I guess my mentality is this: if a McDonalds kitchen caught on fire are the employees then told to go grab a George foreman and sell burgers from home?
  • 06-09-2015, 06:09 PM
    cbg
    Re: I Do Not Work Remote but Told Now when Phone Systems Go Down to Use My Cell Phone
    Apples and oranges. You can come up with all the examples you want, but it is not going to change the fact that your employer may require that you work from home and it will be legal.
  • 06-09-2015, 06:16 PM
    Tingting223
    Re: I Do Not Work Remote but Told Now when Phone Systems Go Down to Use My Cell Phone
    I would agree with you except that would need to be disclosed to the employee before hire. For multiple reasons. Including owning a cell phone.
  • 06-09-2015, 06:34 PM
    cbg
    Re: I Do Not Work Remote but Told Now when Phone Systems Go Down to Use My Cell Phone
    No, it does not have to be disclosed to the employer before hire. What law do you believe exists that requires that?
  • 06-09-2015, 11:53 PM
    cdwjava
    Re: I Do Not Work Remote but Told Now when Phone Systems Go Down to Use My Cell Phone
    If you do not like the situation, suggest an alternative to the employer. Perhaps you can suggest they keep prepaid phones on hand for just such an emergency ... or, perhaps, that they change phone service providers to a reliable provider. And, if they refuse to do that and using your own phone is too expensive or inconvenient, find another job.
  • 06-10-2015, 12:29 AM
    Taxing Matters
    Re: I Do Not Work Remote but Told Now when Phone Systems Go Down to Use My Cell Phone
    Quote:

    Quoting Tingting223
    View Post
    I would agree with you except that would need to be disclosed to the employee before hire. For multiple reasons. Including owning a cell phone.

    While it would be nice that the employer disclose this at the time of hire, no law requires it. The bottom line for you is that if you cannot convince your employer to adopt a policy for this that is more to your liking, you either put up with it or you find a job you like better.
  • 06-11-2015, 08:34 PM
    Tingting223
    Re: I Do Not Work Remote but Told Now when Phone Systems Go Down to Use My Cell Phone
    Quote:

    Quoting cdwjava
    View Post
    If you do not like the situation, suggest an alternative to the employer. Perhaps you can suggest they keep prepaid phones on hand for just such an emergency ... or, perhaps, that they change phone service providers to a reliable provider. And, if they refuse to do that and using your own phone is too expensive or inconvenient, find another job.

    I offered to utilize prepaid phones and they said no because they want a way of tracking/ monitoring all our phones and i guess prepaid devices do not work with the phone system. Instead I was asked to install a landline today to accommodate the phone systems since I'm being told now phones will be down until Monday. I just wish they would of been upfront about responsibilities and what would be needed should phone systems go down. My boyfriend works primarily from home or travels for his position and we live in a one room apartment; I've been sitting next to my land line trying to make calls in between his and I would of planned differently; perhaps not of taken the job at all if I knew I needed to install landlines, increase my usage to unlimited and purchase a laptop on days the phone goes down. I installed my landline and just have to make due but I am certainly a little peeved about it to say the least
  • 06-11-2015, 08:36 PM
    cdwjava
    Re: I Do Not Work Remote but Told Now when Phone Systems Go Down to Use My Cell Phone
    Understandable to be peeved. But, we all have choices to make when it comes to working conditions: we can accept them (unless they are blatantly illegal - even then it might be too expensive to address), or, move on to new employment. Perhaps you should start looking for new employment.
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