Your rights: When the boss wants to call

Q. I have a personal cellphone that I use to keep in contact with friends and family. My boss has asked for the number saying she would like to be able to ring me when I am away from the office and at weekends. I said I would not give her the number as it is a personal phone and I pay all its bills.

As a compromise, I said that if the company wanted to provide me with a mobile phone so that I can be contacted by my employer and make calls on its behalf, then I would be happy to be contacted when out and about in my own time.

My boss says the company cannot afford to buy staff cellphones and says staff have abused them by racking up personal calls.

My partner also says that if I do receive work-related calls in my own time, then I should be paid some kind of "on call" allowance.

What do you think?

A. Your question is a little tricky to answer without knowing more about the circumstances. I think the first point is to clarify why and how often your boss wants to contact you. If your boss only wants to make very occasional contact with you (for example in an emergency), her request is probably reasonable, and I think you would be wise to give her your number.

It is not uncommon for employers to ask employees to provide contact numbers (including cellphones) partly so they can contact staff after hours if necessary. You can always monitor the number of calls you get, and if they are excessive, revisit the issue down the track.

However, if you have good reason to think your boss will be calling and asking you to deal with work matters on a reasonably frequent basis, you may have a legitimate objection.

If this is the case, you should ask a couple more questions. The first is: what does your employment agreement say? Employment agreements usually deal with after-hours work in one of four ways:

(a) after-hours work is expected, and payment for such work is included in your salary (i.e. you don't get any extra pay). If this is the case, then you are obliged, within reason, to be available to work (and, again within reason, to be contactable) after hours; or

(b) overtime will be paid, and the employer can require the employee to work after-hours (although this wouldn't necessarily mean the employer can require the employee to be "on call"); or

(c) overtime will be paid, but the employee can agree (or not agree) to work the extra time; or

(d) the agreement doesn't say anything about the issue, other than indicating the normal hours of work. In this case, whether the employee works and what they are paid are matters for negotiation - the employee cannot be forced to work overtime.

The second question is what type of job do you have? This will give you a guide as to what is reasonably expected from you. If some after-hours calls are a normal and necessary part of the type of role you are in (if so, your agreement and your salary should reflect this), you probably need to be reasonably available to take work-related queries.

Unless your agreement says otherwise, you don't have a "right" to a work cellphone or any kind of on-call allowance. You can always ask for these things, but they are matters for negotiation.

A cellphone and/or an on-call allowance could be a good suggestion if contact is likely to be reasonably frequent or involved, or if your boss is asking you to ensure you are available during certain after hours periods. However, if your boss is really just wanting to be able to contact you in an emergency or very occasionally, making these requests may look as if you are trying to take advantage of the situation.

It is important that you are aware of what you are and are not legally required to do. However, at the end of the day it is probably also very much in your interest to be reasonable and constructive when dealing with your boss' request, bearing in mind that your employer needs to be able to find ways to meet its business requirements.