person touching a cell phone

Nearly all employees will at some point to asked to or expected to use their personal cell phone for a work related purpose for the benefit of their employer. Smartphones are the most common employee-owned devices used for work tasks, but employee-owned tablets, laptops, USB drives, and an ever-expanding roster of internet-enabled devices are also frequently used to access employer data and to communicate with coworkers or clients.

Within this context, employers should consider and plan for issues that this blurring of the personal with the professional might lead to. Are these personal devices equipped with sufficient security software? Are employees entitled to compensation for contributing equipment to the organization? Who owns the intellectual property associated with work-product generated on employee-owned devices? To get ahead of these questions, employers can and often should create written policies to establish rules for employee-owned devices that will be used for business purposes.

Many employers adopt what are commonly known as “bring your own device” (“BYOD”), policies for employee smartphone use. BYOD policies set the rules governing issues that arise when employees use their personal devices for work-related activities.

BYOD policies are designed to accomplish several goals, but two in particular stand out. One being to ensure that employees use strong security practices to protect confidential or sensitive organizational information from getting into the wrong hands. Another is clearly establishing rights to intellectual property, proprietary data, and other important information that may be stored or transmitted on the device, but that the employer wouldn’t want the employee taking with them to their next job.

BYOD policies may include provisions delineating what constitutes acceptable use of personal devices in the workplace, or when utilizing employer software or data. They can specify what mobile devices are approved for use by the organization, identify certain security software that must be installed on the device, or require other security measures, such as password requirements or cybersecurity training.

Federal and New York State employment law generally doesn’t require employers to reimburse employees for work-related expenses, but many employers will nonetheless choose to compensate employees who us their personal devices to supplement workplace productivity. BYOD policies are a good place to specify the details of that reimbursement – or to make it clear that employees aren’t entitled to it.

Lastly, the BYOD policy can outline the process for returning employer-data to the employer in the event the employee moves on from the employer or no longer wishes to utilize their personal device for work purposes. Employers may also wish to implement a policy to address when an employee upgrades or trades in an old device. While the employer can probably trust a reputable national dealer to wipe an old device of data, if an employee gives an old device to a family member or to one of thousands of independent electronics retailers or pawn shops throughout the country, who knows what could happen to the organization’s leftover data stored on the device.

Conclusion

Your organization’s need for a BYOD or other device policy is based upon its circumstances.  Implementation of such a policy can be facilitated by the advice of experienced legal counsel. Please feel free to reach out to attorney Chris Baiamonte at the Wladis Law Firm at (315) 445-1700 or cbaiamonte@wladislawfirm.com with questions regarding anything in this article.

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Christopher J. Baiamonte

Mr. Baiamonte concentrates his practice primarily on civil litigation. He counsels individual, corporate, and municipal clients on resolving disputes ranging from environmental liability to shareholders rights to creditor–debtor suits. He also works with clients to navigate various state and federal regulations relating to areas such as environmental protection, employment, and civil rights.

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