Legal question

[ClunkintheUK]

Is it legal for your employer to force you to put your personal mobile number on a company wide phonebook when they don't give you a work mobile?

[Red Herring]

You could try and apply article 8 HRA:

"Everyone has the right to respect for his private and family life, his home and his correspondence".

Does your personal mobile number count as "correspondence"? I guess if it would depend if this phonebook is in general circulation within the company or just available to those that have a need to contact you professionally.

[ClunkintheUK]

Everyone within the company has access to it. Globally about 15000 employees.

My work landline number is there too.

[atassiedevil]

work landline number is one thing. There is an expectation of personal privacy anywhere you work. giving out your personal mobe is like saying "hey, joe lives here xxx, yyy, zzz....if you're passing him, pop in and insist he makes you coffee"

Thats an invasion of privacy, unless it's written into, and accepted by you, in your contract.

[Brettus]

buy a premium rate number, point it at your mobile and give them that ;) problem?

[yorkie_chris]

buy a premium rate number, point it at your mobile and give them that ;) problem?

#like#

Alternatively

"I don't have a mobile phone"

[TamSV]

buy a premium rate number, point it at your mobile and give them that ;) problem?

Excellent :D

Even better, just set up a recorded message on the premium rate number that says "sorry, I'm not available. Please call my landline during business hours" click, brrrrrr.

As they're a big company, they've probably got a rule about using personal mobiles during business hours. If that says you can't use them then providing your mobile number can only be about contacting you out of hours so the question is, are you compensated for that in your contract?

On the bright side, if you use a personal mobile for business, you can claim part of the cost against tax. :)

[EssexDave]

To be honest, the Human Rights Act is probably not likely to be of much help and even if it was to be of help, it can be costly.

I'd probably go down the route of either (a) data protection (in that people who have no need of your mobile number are given it - 15,000 people seems pretty disproportionate) and/or (b) it isn't in your contract of employment - they cannot force you to have your personal mobile number up.

It's a bit of a pain, but really your best bet is to speak to whoever you can in HR, raise your concerns and see what they say!

[ClunkintheUK]

Love the idea Brettus.

Yeah, I know the moral stance AD. It really annoys me, because I am really careful with my mobile number. Colleague of mine got a call at 11 in the evening the other week from someone at work he did not know. Got into trouble for saying "This is not an emergency, come back to me tomorrow morning. This is my personal number" then trying to remove his number from the directory. But that is different from the legal standpoint. Also your contract cannot override statutory rights.

[ClunkintheUK]

Its an American company so they have a very different attitude to things like this.

In terms of people needing my number, they would probably say something along the lines people do need to be able to contact you, and you may not have met them in person before. (roughly what happened to my colleague).

I think its a little spurious given that it is not deemed necessary for me to be given a work phone.

[ClunkintheUK]

YC, they took it off my CV when I applied.

[atassiedevil]

Data protection act covers you well here.
companies are allowed to have specific information, but keep that information to the people who need to know. This information also needs a pressing reason for them to have it.

Giving your mobi to every employee aint.

[yorkie_chris]

Can you not just change your number (on work directory) to a disposable PAYG sim card or something else, it can work for a week or two then be strangely switched off whenever needed.
No hassle, no problems of arguing data protection.

It comes as a shock these days but there's actually no death penalty for not owning or using a mobile...


(ok ok just the unofficial vigilantes who will come around and beat you to death with a nokia brick in a sock if you haven't tied your phone to facebook)

[Spank86]

Its an American company so they have a very different attitude to things like this.

In terms of people needing my number, they would probably say something along the lines people do need to be able to contact you, and you may not have met them in person before. (roughly what happened to my colleague).

I think its a little spurious given that it is not deemed necessary for me to be given a work phone.

Are you required to own a mobile as a condition of your job?

If not then you cannot give them something that doesn't exist.

"I don't have a mobile, sometimes I borrow my mother/father/girlfriends."

[Mark_h]

Chances are they are in breach of Data protection protocol as data given for one purpose (Job application) may not be used for another purpose (corporate directory) without the data subject (you) giving permission either at the time or retrospectively.

If you don't want people getting hold of you, then as suggested elsewhere, get an PAYG SIM, give them that number and then if it suits you can stick it in a phone. If you set up a CFNA (voicemail destination) to be your works DDI number then if they call it you will answer it when at work and will get your work Voicemail when you're not there. I'd consider it to be the same as someone giving out my home number.

That said though I have one mobile for work and private. I've found that if people know they can get hold of you when they need you they are less likely to speculatively call you and instead only call when you are really needed. Works for me anyway.

[ClunkintheUK]

No, owning a mobile is not a condition of my contract. But they already know I own one. Also given my industry, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't have gotten the job if I didn't have a mobile.

Yeah, I can change it to a PAYG, or various other things too. I don't get any calls on it so it is not a problem per se, just something that is bothering me as I am really careful with my information given the prevalence of ID theft.

They are also asking for next of kin information like e-mail, postal adresses, phone numbers etc, for dependents and wider family. Given I carry an ICE card, I think this is not relevant for my employer to also be my keeper like that. Also saying they need to contact me in an emergency. That's fine, I am on the emergency contact system. Frankly if I see a plume of smoke coming up from my building I would think I am sensible enough to not come into work to find that it has been bombed.

[Wideboy]

Someone gave out my personal number at work so all I did was block the extention and all known mobile numbers. Sorted.

[timwilky]

We take the view that if the company need to contact you out of the office, they provide you with a mobile.

but being a strange company, they are trying to introduce a BYOD scheme and pay you for international calls on your expenses but given £29 Net/month to fund it. As it will require unlimited data etc. No one in the UK has taken it up and the frogs wonder why?

Tell your bosses to provide you with a phone if they want to contact you.

[Citizen]

I use my personal phone for work and have the same problem.

The solution I found was "blocking mode", just put my family and friends on the allowed list and now try to remember to put it on after work and at the weekends (if off) ;)

Unless you are on call then it is a different matter.

[Wideboy]

I use my personal phone for work and have the same problem.

The solution I found was "blocking mode", just put my family and friends on the allowed list and now try to remember to put it on after work and at the weekends (if off) ;)

Unless you are on call then it is a different matter.
That's exactly what I did. Although I have a work phone but I don't take it home and it's always off so I can get my work done.

[chris8886]

I think its a little spurious given that it is not deemed necessary for me to be given a work phone.



by the sounds of it to me, they should be giving you a work phone!

[Littlepeahead]

I have a personal mobile, I didn't want a work BlackBerry as my thumbs are the wrong shape and I get work to pay £30 towards the bill each month. My number is widely available to the media and I do get calls out of hours from media and players but accepted that as part of my job years ago. Colleagues know I am contactable as required, even on holiday. However, if you aren't as laid back about such things then perhaps discuss with HR what you obligations are contractually with regards to calls. As for ICE, I think if the info is just for HR purposes that's fair enough. If anything happened to you better they know who to call, you might prefer it to be a sibling than an elderly parent.

[fizzwheel]

Is being contactable out of hours written into your job contract ?

If yes then they should provide you with a mobile if no. I'd be telling them to take my number off the corporate directory. If they refuse.

1. If the number isnt in your phone book, dont answer it
2. If the number calling you shows as private number or unknown dont ansewr it.

If its important they should leave you a voicemail then you can choose whether to return the call or not.

I have a work provided mobile for the times when I have to cover on call for out of hours, getting calls to your personal number about work when you are not on call can be a right PIA.

In your position I would go and take a good look at your job contract, if its not in there that you have to provide your own mobile for work then I'd be going back to HR / your boss and asking for your personal number to be removed from the Corporate directory, but that might be career limiting if you have just started a new job.

As the other have said, cheap PAYG Phone is your friend here...

[andrewsmith]

+1 with Fizz's post. If you are required to be contactable Out of Hours (Like I am) they have to provide you with a company mobile.
If they require you to be contactable out of hours but don't provide you with the mobile; you are then quite entitled (I'm sure its covered in the P11 and tax rules) to then claim back that money from your company as its for the benefit of the company.

Our firm, only lists the office hours and work mobile numbers and we've got about 30,000 internationally in our arm alone. The private landlines and mobiles are held on a separate database only accessible by 20 people in the UK (Theres about 6,000 working in the UK)

[ClunkintheUK]

NO being contactable out of hours is not in my contract, but then I work in finance, so lots of things fly which are not in my contract. Like working 60 hour weeks.

My problem is not getting calls out of hours, I don't really get any, just the principle of having a private number up for all and sundry. I really am just wandering what the legal standpoint is.

Its part of a wider policy of the company, though it does vary by department, that you get the job done whatever the time.

[fizzwheel]

NO being contactable out of hours is not in my contract, but then I work in finance, so lots of things fly which are not in my contract. Like working 60 hour weeks.

My problem is not getting calls out of hours, I don't really get any, just the principle of having a private number up for all and sundry. I really am just wandering what the legal standpoint is.

Its part of a wider policy of the company, though it does vary by department, that you get the job done whatever the time.

If its not written down in your contact or in a HR policy then its un-enforceable. Ask them to see where it says in writing that you have to provide a personal number for them to contact you on. If it not written down they cant make you do it.

However like I said it might be career limiting, depends how much you want to dig your heels in about it.

Citizens advice or a specialist employment solicitor is going to be able to advise you properly. If its a big a company it seems, then raise it with HR, but remember HR is there to protect the company not the individual employee's

[Sir Trev]

Its an American company so they have a very different attitude to things like this.




Snigger. A lot of them do. When you try to fill in mandatory forms and you point out that some of the data they want is not allowed under Euro laws, or that you don't have a social security number, or the driving licence number field does not have a UK option in the format... Been there, seen it, smacked my head against the wall repeatedly trying to get them to understand it.

My boss has my personal number and e-mail from my CV but I just turn my phone off when I don't want to be disturbed. People know it and leave a VM if they want me to call them back.

[ClunkintheUK]

Yeah thats pretty much it. Some things are not illegal, but just jarring to the way I have previously done my job. Also I don't like turning my phone off. I don't have a landline so its how I am contactable in a real emergency. (not the "I don't know how to do my job" type emergency)

[thefallenangel]

I work a 1 in 6 standby rota so work provide me with a mobile but i do not answer it when off work unless on call and have a seperate mobile. If they demand your number just demand a work mobile or compensation for your own contract being used and get a cheapy contract for a tenner a month and use the extra money for your own contract otherwise tell them to get lost.