After-Hours Use of Electronic Devices: Avoiding and Defending Overtime Pay Claims
Defining Working Time, Leveraging Defense Tactics, Defeating Class Certification, Proactively Avoiding Claims
A live 90-minute CLE video webinar with interactive Q&A
This CLE course will guide employment counsel on practical measures to protect against overtime pay claims resulting from employees' increased use of electronic devices to perform work-related tasks after hours. The panel will examine the most recent developments regarding the after-hours use of electronic devices, review situations involving electronic devices and "working time," and provide approaches for defeating claims.
Outline
- Latest developments regarding employee connectivity via electronic devices and overtime pay claims
- Compensability of off-duty work
- Definition of work
- De minimis doctrine
- Portal-to-Portal Act
- On-call time
- Employer defense
- Individual claims
- Collective action claims
- Best practices to avoid overtime pay claims
Benefits
The panel will review these and other principal issues:
- How does continuous connectivity of employees impact the definition of working time and compensable time?
- What are the defenses to electronic overtime pay claims?
- What are best practices to avoid claims of electronic overtime pay?
- What tactics work to defeat certification in collective actions when employees claim a group of employees is entitled to electronic overtime pay?
Faculty

Susan Fahey Desmond
Member
McGlinchey
For more than 35 years, Ms. Desmond has helped clients minimize the cost and disruption of employment disputes. She... | Read More
For more than 35 years, Ms. Desmond has helped clients minimize the cost and disruption of employment disputes. She defends wage and hour, wrongful discharge, non-compete, FMLA, and other claims. Clients seek her litigation counsel for age, sex, disability, race, religion, and sexual harassment discrimination lawsuits, as well as class actions. Ms. Desmond helps employers dispute EEOC charges and other administrative complaints and navigate the administrative and judicial process. And, perhaps most importantly, she works with management and HR to resolve issues before they develop into contentious litigation. In addition, Ms. Desmond has an active practice counseling employers on employment practices, from advising on employment contracts to drafting and updating employee handbooks to crafting effective workplace policies and procedures. A natural public speaker, she regularly conducts training seminars for managers and employees on various topics, including FMLA and FLSA compliance, employee speech, employer investigations, records retention and destruction, layoffs and downsizing, and more.
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Stephen E. Fox
Partner
Sheppard Mullin
Mr. Fox has spent more than 25 years in boardrooms and courtrooms acting as a trusted advisor and litigation advocate... | Read More
Mr. Fox has spent more than 25 years in boardrooms and courtrooms acting as a trusted advisor and litigation advocate for clients – from Fortune 500 corporations to entrepreneurs – in complicated and often high-profile business and employment disputes. His advice/counseling and trial practice is focused on complex business and employment litigation. In the area of labor and employment law, clients look to Mr. Fox for proactive and practical recommendations to avoid litigation. But, when disagreements or disputes end up in the courtroom or in arbitration, he is a vigorous advocate, successfully trying cases in a myriad of areas, including non-competition violations; trade secret theft; executive departures; wage and hour compliance and collective actions; corporate downsizing; leaves of absence (ADA and FMLA); sexual harassment investigations; and compliance with federal/state anti-discrimination and retaliation statutes. Mr. Fox’s ability to synthesize complex facts and arguments into understandable and memorable pieces of information makes him a compelling courtroom advocate, as well as a frequent resource to print, broadcast and radio media.
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