Sergeant Jeffery Allen along with fifty other members of a Chicago crime unit have filed a class-action lawsuit demanding backpay for answering work related emails and calls when off-duty. U.S. Magistrate Judge Sidney Schenkier will decide if these officers are entitled to millions in backpay for time spent on their BlackBerry phones. A major question within the case is if the officers should receive payment for answering these calls and emails when it was only implied that they be available through BlackBerry 24 hours a day, and there is no evidence of a written rule.
See "Overtime for Work on Phones? Judge to Decide in Chicago Case", August 25, 2015