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The Problems With Banning Cell Phones in the Workplace

December 17, 2021 | FlaglerLive | 4 Comments

Why shouldn't they have their cell phones? And why are blue collar workers targeted? (© FlaglerLive)
Why shouldn’t they have their cell phones? And why are blue collar workers targeted? (© FlaglerLive)

By Richard Carlson

Cellphones in the workplace can be a distraction – but they could also save your life.




In the aftermath of a devastating tornado ripping through an Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, on Dec. 10, 2021 – killing six employees – the online retailer is reportedly reviewing its policy over mobile phone bans during working hours.

Prior to the coronavirus pandemic, it was common for Amazon to require its employees to leave phones at home or in vehicles before setting foot on the factory floor. The policy was relaxed during the pandemic but was due to be reintroduced in January. Amazon has indicated that a ban was not in effect at the factory at the time the tornado hit, although some employees have suggested Amazon had reinstated the ban elsewhere.

Speaking to Bloomberg, workers at an Amazon warehouse close to the Edwardsville plant said the tornado deaths underscored the need to access phones during emergencies – for example, to obtain information about potentially deadly storms or to help guide rescuers to where people might be trapped.




“If they institute the no-cellphone policy, I am resigning,” said one.

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This isn’t the first time that the issue of cellphone bans in the workplace has come up as a safety concern. After a mass shooting at a FedEx center in Indianapolis in April 2021, the company faced questions about its ban on cellphones. Not having a cellphone handy could mean you are unable to relay crucial information about an active shooter’s location to authorities.

As an expert on employment law, I know that bans on employees using cellphones are relatively common in workplaces such as factories, farms and fast-food chains. Such employer rules are legal, and there is relatively little that employees can do about it.

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In the American workplace, the employer is the manager and controls the conditions of your employment. As such, employees are expected to abide by the employer’s rules.

Employers adopt cellphone bans for a number of reasons, including the perceived negative impact of their use on productivity, security and privacy.

There are some laws that limit what the employer can do. For example, the Fair Labor Standards Act limits an employer’s restrictions on hourly wage-earning employees’ personal activity, including cellphone use during time the employer treats as “off the clock.” If an employer limits personal activities such as cellphone use during extended breaks or lunch periods, it might have to “count” that time as “working time” for purposes of overtime pay.

But no law prohibits the employer from banning phone use or possession during actual work time or in a regular active working area. In fact, an employer can regulate a lot of the things you can bring into a work area. An employer might stipulate that you can’t bring a gun, jewelry or TV into a work area. And breaking such rules can lead to disciplinary measures or even termination.




The National Labor Relations Act is one law that limits how far an employer can go in restricting cellphone possession around the workplace under some circumstances. In fact, the right of employers to ban cellphones in the workplace was recently addressed by the National Labor Relations Board, which is the agency that interprets the act. In a 2020 ruling, the board upheld a rule adopted by Cott Beverages to limit cellphone use and possession.

The board approved the rule because Cott Beverages did not ban employees from storing their cellphones in lockers or using their phones in non-working areas such as break rooms and outside actual working time. A complete ban on cellphones probably would have violated the National Labor Relations Act, in the board’s view, because it would have interfered with the ability of employees to engage in union activity and related organizational activity.

There is little empirical research on what proportion of U.S. employees are subjected to cellphone restrictions. But from my observation, such restrictions generally affect factory workers or others who receive hourly wages rather than white-collar salaried employees.

Nonetheless, the devastating effects of the Edwardsville storm will up the pressure on employers to allow employees to keep hold of their phones, if only for their own safety.

Richard Carlson is Professor of Law at South Texas College of Law Houston.

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Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Jimbo99 says

    December 18, 2021 at 7:34 am

    As an hourly widget employee, safety is the main reason cited, but a smartphone is a distraction to productivity. That’s a 6+ hour block of time management is after productivity stats. And it doesn’t pay very well. They’re after that dynamo employee with stellar productivity rate that costs as little as possible so the suits can gouge and pay themselves fabulous salaries with benefits.

  2. Mary Fusco says

    December 18, 2021 at 3:27 pm

    Jimbo, funny, I worked from the time I was 16 until I was 65 without a cellphone and I am still here. If you want to become a suit, put the phone down and work towards the goal of a fabulous salary with benefits. A phone is not necessary to live. Sadly, we have become a world of idiots that need something to stare at 24/7. I don’t know too many companies that will want to pay an employee for sitting around chatting and texting for a good portion of the workday. If you had a business, would you?

  3. A.j says

    December 18, 2021 at 5:48 pm

    Whst happened before cell phones?

  4. Jimbo99 says

    December 19, 2021 at 5:14 pm

    I’ve worked during your age 16-65 run, The workplace has changed really. Read the articles about the county council meetings. We have council people threatening each other and not one of them was arrested. Every day is a new article on the kids at school threatening to shoot up the place. When parents were arming their children with Apple iPhones when working adults couldn’t afford that same phone over the last decade & a half. The workplace changed forever in that technology movement.

    When you say you don’t know too many companies that will pay for employees to chat & text, I disagree with that. I have a video of an entire department that waited for the boss to leave, they all left early that day. The Director I worked for was rarely to work on time, always left early and always had time to either watch or share videos of his toddler crawling around the house, watching on his iPhone. He was “the best” diversity hire (Affirmative Action in our era of the labor workforce) that has become Corporate America today. I tend to agree that those that work hard get promoted if that’s who you are. But for as long as I’ve ever worked, it’s always been Nepotism, Cronyism, Diversity and then anyone that was left over in the free for all to actually compete for promotions & raises. That much won’t ever change really.

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