Chicago police officers in the department’s organized crime bureau sued the city for overtime pay. They said they did unpaid work on their BlackBerrys when off duty. In December 2015 a federal judge agreed that they had done the work. He accepted their testimony that “they felt obligated to be responsive to BlackBerry communications they received while off duty.”
The city still won. The judge found no proof of a policy that such work would not be paid. He also found that “plaintiffs did not establish a well-grounded fear of adverse consequences.”