Sue your company for Blackberry addiction

InsuranceJournal:

Technology keeps workers connected 24/7. If that sounds like an employer's dream come true, think again: according to a Rutgers University researcher, employers who encourage non-stop work connections via technology may wind up with liability for encouraging addiction among their staff.

According to Gayle Porter, an associate professor of management at the Rutgers University School of Business at Camden, N.J., the fast and relentless pace of technology-enhanced work environments creates a source of stimulation that may become addictive. While addiction to work has been a widespread phenomenon for some time, the Rutgers-Camden scholar suggests that employers may face legal liability for these addictions.

"There are costs attached to excessive work due to technology," says Porter. "Information and communication technology (ICT) addiction has been treated by policy makers as a kind of elephant in the room -- everyone sees it, but no one wants to acknowledge it directly. Owing to vested interests of the employers and the ICT industry, signs of possible addiction -- excess use of ICT and related stress illnesses -- are often ignored."