Employee Phone Numbers- Private or Not?

[dagni]

I work two jobs- I repair and build computers full time and work retail part time. Recently my part time employer decided to post all employee phone numbers at the time clock and service desk for all employees to have access to. It is widely known that I repair and build computers, and now fellow employees, and their friends and families are all calling my home asking for free computer repair. I told my employer about these problems and asked to be removed from this list, but she said no. I then took a large black marker and blotted my phone number out on the list.

I am in a part-time supervisor position at this job, and other employees have come to me imploring for help. Many of them are getting unwanted calls, but there is nothing I can do but tell them to blot their name off the list.

My employer told everyone I quit after I blotted my name off the list (which those who now already had my phone number were more than happy to call me and tell me), and then when I confronted her and came back to work, she has been threatening to fire me daily.

Is posting employee phone numbers for all associates to have access to without asking for permission an exceptable and legal practice? Can she rightfully terminate me for not wanting my phone number distributed to anyone who cared to have it? Are there any laws regarding this, and if so, can anyone link me to them so that I may read them and print copies for myself?

 

[Beth3]

Is posting employee phone numbers for all associates to have access to without asking for permission an exceptable and legal practice? Yes, it's legal. Unless there's a specific business reason to post employees' phone numbers I don't think it's a very good idea but unless you have an unlisted number, your home phone number is readily accessible by any interested party already. (Even if your home phone number is unlisted, this still wouldn't have been illegal.)

Can she rightfully terminate me for not wanting my phone number distributed to anyone who cared to have it? Yes.

Are there any laws regarding this, and if so, can anyone link me to them so that I may read them and print copies for myself? No, there aren't any.

All I can suggest is that when all these people call and ask for free computer repair, tell them you bill at $100 an hour. That ought to seriously diminish the number of calls and requests you're receiving.

 

[dagni]

Is posting employee phone numbers for all associates to have access to without asking for permission an exceptable and legal practice? Yes, it's legal. Unless there's a specific business reason to post employees' phone numbers I don't think it's a very good idea but unless you have an unlisted number, your home phone number is readily accessible by any interested party already. (Even if your home phone number is unlisted, this still wouldn't have been illegal.)

Can she rightfully terminate me for not wanting my phone number distributed to anyone who cared to have it? Yes.

Are there any laws regarding this, and if so, can anyone link me to them so that I may read them and print copies for myself? No, there aren't any.

All I can suggest is that when all these people call and ask for free computer repair, tell them you bill at $100 an hour. That ought to seriously diminish the number of calls and requests you're receiving.

Thanks for the help! I'm going to be looking for another part time job then. ^^