BlackBerrys Focus Of Workers' Rights Flap

BlackBerrys enable companies to contact employees 24/7, and workers often find themselves doing company business after-hours -- sometimes, plenty of it -- so much so that many employees have come to view the device as almost a digital ball and chain.

And now, reports Early Show national correspondent Tracy Smith, workers are beginning to fight back -- insisting that they get paid overtime for e-mails sent and work done after hours.

BlackBerry use is, Smith points out, a "cultural craze" that, for some, borders on addiction," as people check their devices constantly.

One man told Smith he checks his roughly every 90 seconds! Another admitted he can't resist checking his.

Members of Congress aren't immune. "The BlackBerry is really like a leash on you, and that means you can never get away. It is a constant reminder of everything ya gotta do and even those things that you don't wanna do," says Rep. Eric Cantor (R, Va.).

But, says Smith, employees of ABC-TV said, "Enough is enough," are asked to be compensated for checking their 'berries after work hours.

"Sometimes," says Wall Street Journal technology reporter, Julia Angwin, "BlackBerry usage after-hours becomes extremely intrusive. It can take up your whole evening, your whole day on a weekend. In that case, it really is like being at work and is like overtime.

One man remarked to Smith that, "If it's after work, and it's productive, absolutely" the ABC employees should be paid for after-hours BlackBerry use.

Smith asked one woman, "If you were the boss and somebody came to you and said, 'I want to be paid for my BlackBerry use outside the office,' what would you say?"

"Don't use it!" the woman responded.

But a man observed to Smith that, "The e-mails are coming in all day, all night -- there's no way you could sort of be compensated for that."

ABC agreed last week that workers can get paid for some work on their BlackBerrys -- if it goes "beyond routine."

So, says Smith, "Maybe the next e-mail many of us write will be to the boss, asking if we can make a deal, too. We'll hit send and then, in typical crackberry fashion, keep checking and checking and checking for the response!"

A recent article in the National Law Journal says some attorneys are even telling their clients to create explicit overtime policies to address potential complaints about BlackBerry use after regular business hours, Smith notes. "There's a danger (companies) could get sued, for overtime, for Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. All of these things are coming up."