Smart workplace policies for smartphones

Q Our company wants to implement a policy to restrict personal cell phone usage only to break times. Can we ask workers to put their phones in their work lockers or on their supervisors' desks?

There's no doubt cell phones and smartphones are a ubiquitous part of life. There's also no doubt they can pose significant distractions and loss of productivity in the workplace. Employers' attempts to ban personal cell phone use in the workplace, however, have been met with scrutiny by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

A recent NLRB advice memorandum clarified that a policy forbidding cell phone usage in the workplace except for "work-related or critical, quality-of-life activities only" is illegal under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) because employees (union or nonunion) have the right to communicate with one another through nonemployer-monitored channels during lunch or break periods ― in other words, nonworking times.

Critically, and as stated in the same advice memo, the Board will likely find a policy prohibiting cell phone use during "working hours" as violating Section 7 because the phrase is typically understood to include nonwork time during breaks and the like. Thus, while it's permissible to prohibit cell phone use during working times, any policy stating so should be artfully drafted and permit usage during all nonworking time, not necessarily just "breaks."