You might think some of your workers have their Blackberry physically attached to their hands. Forget about calling a surgeon, your firm may need to call a lawyer.

Seems smartphones are keeping people too connected to the office. And workers are expecting their company to pay them for it.

In fact, it’s the newest wave of overtime lawsuits: Employees asking for more pay for the time they’re plugged in.

It’s a slippery slope: Companies give (and foot the bill for) employees’ devices so they can stay connected to work.

But when does an employee’s choice to check e-mail over the weekend mean you have to fork over time and a half?

Here are a few ways to protect yourself:

1. Check classifications. Usually, company-provided smartphones go to high-level employees and managers. Most of these folks are overtime-exempt anyway, so this should be a non-issue. Now’s a great time to check that employees are properly classified.
2. Remind managers to set limits. There’s probably a push for extra productivity these days, but let managers know if they go too far, it’ll cost your company a lot more in legal bills than you gain in extra output.

Tags: exempt, lawsuits, overtime, productivity, smartphones