~ The issue ~ March Madness

~ Our opinion ~ Reason for concern about March Madness betting in workplace

The final day of March. “Madness” is almost over. The NCAA basketball tournament is down to the Final Four. Nearly everyone has an opinion about which team will be crowned champion come Monday night. Some are happy. Some are singing the blues.

Employers may not be happy, and with good reason.

For an ever-growing segment of the work force, March is one of the most distracting periods of the year. Unlike one-day office pool events for the Super Bowl or the Academy Awards, March Madness is a three-week binge of 65 colleges playing 64 games beginning March 16 and ending April 2.

According to a study conducted by career publisher Vault Inc., 57 percent of workers succumb to the madness and participate in office pools for the NCAA men’s basketball tournament.

So, should the boss squash March Madness? Don’t bet on it – now or in the future. While the tournament may lead to lower productivity, some employers allow employees to track and discuss the annual single-elimination hoops tournament on company time as a way to boost morale.

But March Madness can lead to supervisor sadness.

The FBI estimates more than $2.4 billion is illegally gambled on the NCAA tournament, some through bookies but a significant portion on the job. How worried should employers be about this and what can be done about it?

According to a survey by the Society for Human Resource Management, 30 percent of companies that responded acknowledge operating some sort of NCAA gambling pool and only 27 percent have a written policy against it.

So is it legal or illegal in South Carolina?

According to employment law specialist Mike Carrouth, managing partner of the Columbia office of Fisher & Phillips LLP, gambling is illegal in South Carolina and office pools fall into this category.

“While the laws prohibiting office pools may be hardly (if) ever enforced, simply letting employees engage in these activities during work time and on company property could open up a business owner to unexpected legal problems,” Carrouth said. “Also, sponsoring an office pool could create issues if you have an employee who claims they were forced to participate in an illegal activity as a condition of the job. For these reasons, employers should not sponsor or encourage office pools.”

Carrouth also warns pools set a bad precedent. Every employer should have lawful policies controlling workplace solicitations, distributions and computer usage. In today’s business environment, these guidelines are a must.

Allowing March Madness activities or events could very likely prevent you from enforcing these policies. For example, turning a blind eye to work-time solicitations involving an NCAA pool or letting “bracket sheets” be passed out in a work area could prevent you from applying your policies to other activities such as union organizing. The same problem could happen if you allow employees to use their office computers to access on-line March Madness sites.

While no employer wants to put a damper on the Madness, there is ample reason to be glad the month is over. And there is a need to look at how Madness in the workplace will be handled in the future.

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