Mobile tech raises safety, wage-and-hour compliance problems.

• Position: In the Spotlight

Despite rising energy costs and flat wage growth, employee productivity continues to grow. Much of that productivity growth is due to businesses and employees utilizing modern technology--a trend that raises important liability issues affecting safety and overtime compliance.

On the road, on the phone

Before encouraging employees to take business calls on the road or handing out smartphones, tablets and other connected devices, employers should be aware of risks they must address.

Virtually all your employees own smartphones, and many of them use them to take and make workrelated calls. According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, 40% of all workplace fatalities in 2016--the most recent year for which data are available--involved transportation incidents. Not surprisingly, many of those accidents involved employees' use of phone while driving. Some recent examples:

* International Paper Co. agreed to pay $5.2 million to settle a personal-injury lawsuit related to an employee's use of her company cell phone while driving.

* Dykes Industries, an Arkansas lumber company, was held liable when an employee...