Employer liability for telecommuting employees

Telecommuting is a work arrangement in which an employee regularly works at a site other than the employer's place of business—often the employee's home or a so-called telework center. Telecommuting may increase employees' job flexibility, retention, productivity, and motivation. However, telecommuting also carries distinct implications for legal liability. Among the issues are safety, adherence to disability-access laws, and wage and hour regulations. For instance, employers face issues connected with workplace safety, because they can be held accountable for accidents at a telecommuter's home office (even though the employer does not manage the premises). Telecommuting may come to be seen as a “reasonable accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act, although few cases have been decided regarding this contention. Moreover, the simple fact that an employee is setting her own hours does not exempt the employer from the wage and hour provisions of the Fair Labor Standards Act. Workers must either fit that law's specific exemptions from hourly and overtime pay or else keep careful track of their hours. Perhaps the most important means of limiting problems arising from telecommuting is to implement a firm, company-wide policy (rather than apply ad hoc criteria), and to make certain that both job duties and the worker personally are suited to the minimal supervision and self-direction involved in telecommuting.