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In a move that could strike fear in the hearts of employers, a union representing government workers said this week that it was making the use of pocket-size electronic devices such as BlackBerrys a bargaining issue.

"For some people, having a BlackBerry is like: We own you. You are our person, 24 hours, 7 days a week," said Ed Cashman, Public Service Alliance of Canada's regional executive vice-president for the National Capital Region, who says the union will insert the issue of BlackBerry use into its continuing contract negotiations.

"Our members are running into situations where they're not compensated properly for having to do work at home."

The government should pay its employees for work they do out of the office, Mr. Cashman said.

Some lawyers and work-life experts say other employers should be taking note if they want to ward off potential lawsuits or massive overtime bills. In today's work environment, computers can be toted in pockets, bosses can call on their staff with a few clicks, and clocking-out doesn't exist.

"I think prudent employers are very much aware of this issue and are creating policies to deal with it," said Louis Sokolov, a Toronto lawyer who represents employees in labour suits. "Employers who are not prudent about it are doing so at their peril."

Saving on straight-up wireless costs is one good reason to have guidelines in place.

But there's also growing concern that legal issues with BlackBerry-based overtime may arise if the proper policies aren't set up.

In the United States, legal experts are warning that a new wave of overtime litigation is on the horizon, in which employees will claim overtime for all the hours they've spent clicking away at their hand-held devices.

"I don't think it would be a surprising development if similar cases made their way here," said Mr. Sokolov, who represented bank employees in recent actions launched against Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce that claimed the bank required tellers and customer service representatives to regularly work more hours than their standard workweek without pay.

But Linda Duxbury, associate professor at Carleton University's Sprott School of Business, said adding BlackBerry usage to contract negotiations is a mistake that could result in people working longer hours.

"That legitimizes inappropriate behaviours," she said. "Right now, it's just the culture that pressures you to do it, or your boss, or sometimes your own personality. But what if it becomes a job responsibility to be available 24/7? This is taking everything that we've been talking about in terms of work-life balance and turning it on its head."

Catherine Middleton, who holds a Canada Research Chair in communication technologies in the information society, adds that "if [BlackBerry usage]is part of a contract, then I think there might be some additional expectations around availability."

These days, companies are doling out these devices to lower-ranking employees, when in the past they were reserved for bosses and upper management, she said.

"People who are asked to be available now, wouldn't have been asked for that availability in the past."

Some employers have tried to curb the use of hand-held devices by staff.

In February, Citizenship and Immigration Canada banned employees from using their BlackBerrys between 7 p.m. and 7 a.m. But the move, aimed at improving work-life balance for employees, was met with grumbling from some diehard users who said it was impossible to enforce and glossed over the real, underlying issues of workload and stress.

Some say it's up to the employees to put their foot down and simply turn the device off.

"My true belief is it's up to the individual to just say no," said Christopher Higgins, professor at University of Western Ontario's Richard Ivey School of Business, whose research focuses on the impact of technology on individuals.

But that's not always possible. "In a very competitive environment," Mr. Cashman said, "people are feeling the need to answer the boss's e-mail."

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