If nonprofit employees must respond to e-mail messages during their lunch hours, take phone calls from the executive director while driving to their kids’ soccer games, or communicate by Blackberry on the train to work, are they on the clock?

If those workers are labeled as non-exempt — meaning that they work in positions that the federal government says are eligible for overtime — the answer is yes, writes Jack Siegel on his blog, Charity Governance.

Mr. Siegel, an author and accountant in Chicago, points to a recent case in which an assistant for Oprah Winfrey’s production company who sought 800 hours of overtime over 17 weeks because of such tasks.

“The message should be clear,” Mr. Siegel writes. “Nonprofits should be reviewing job descriptions, hours actually worked, and the basis for categorizing workers as exempt or non-exempt.

“It may make sense to reclassify some workers as exempt—assuming the facts support the classification—and begin to pay a salary rather than an hourly rate. It might also make sense to reach a clear understanding with non-exempt workers about how lunch hour and other intrusions on personal time are tracked and compensated.”

What do you think? Are hourly workers spending more of their “off hours” working? If so, what is the best way to deal with the issue? Click on the comments link below this post to share your thoughts.