Posted 11/24/08 at 10:29:00 AM by Paul Lilly

If you thought blue screens and other unexpected fatal system errors were annoying, how would you feel if your employer docked your paycheck every time you had to reboot your PC? This frightening practice appears to be a growing trend, one which has prompted several lawsuits by angered employees who are suddenly being itemized for the time they spend booting a PC.

According to The National Law Journal, several lawsuits have been filed in the past year in which employees claim they were not paid for the time they spent booting up and shutting down their PC at the start and end of each work day. And these aren't necessarily smaller companies looking to cut corners, either. Some of the accused include AT&T, UnitedHealth Group, and Cigna Corp.

"These are hourly employees who are not making much more than minimum wage,"said Mark Thierman, a Las Vegas-based lawyer who has experience filing computer-booting lawsuits. "There's a good half-hour a day that they're not being paid for. It adds up."

Thierman notes that even though booting up and shutting down a PC takes time, employees are still working, whether it be wading through paperwork or making phone calls. But management-side attorney Richard Rosenblatt sees it a different way. According to Rosenblatt, he's observed first hand employees engaging in non-work activities while waiting for their PC to boot.

"They go have a smoke, talk to friends, get coffee -- they're not working, and all they've done at that point is press a button to power up the computer, enter in a keyword," Rosenblatt said.

Are employers justified in docking pay based on startup and shutdown times? Hit the jump and sound off.

Read More