In our day and age, people are hyperconnected; meaning they are always connected to some device where they can be reached. Things, of course, weren’t always this way. Now, if your boss wants to get in touch with you all he or she has to do is pick up the phone or sent out an email. This has led to some employees working while they are off work; either after hours or on off days.

In response to this, a lawsuit was filed in the Eastern District of New York against T-Mobile by employees alleging that they were required to be on call and respond to some customer problems while they were scheduled to be off or weren’t getting paid for the work. During the time they were on call they weren’t getting overtime.

According to the lawsuit, the employees (some former and current), were required to “review and respond to numerous T-Mobile related emails and text messages at all hours of the day and night, whether or not they were logged into T-Mobile’s computer based time keeping system.” The employees were also required to be a part of conference calls during off days and during lunch and other times that they were off the clock.

There was another, similar lawsuit filed in the Eastern District of Wisconsin by a real estate worker who wasn’t being paid overtime for responding to maintenance issues after hours.

All of this shows that people are expected and sometimes have to be connected at all times for job security and some employers are taking advantage of that. You should be getting paid for all the hours that you’re working, even if you’re at home. If you work past 40 hours a week, you should be getting paid overtime. This is definitely true if you’re an hourly worker. If you’re a salaried worker, sometimes the line can be a bit blurred, but that isn’t any excuse for your employer to take advantage of you and your constant connection to the world.

Some people are simply addicted to being connected and doing things that involve work. This includes those who have an addiction to work.

If you are checking your email after work then you may not be on the clock for that, but if your boss is asking you to respond to work related emails after hours then you should be getting paid for the work that you’re doing then.

As the economy has proven, nothing is fully recession proof. In an emotionally driven society and a fairly unpredictable financial condition, job security has tended to mean nothing and cost cutting has prevailed beyond the course of the job market. However, there are some careers that have still proven to be ‘recession proof’. Some are very lucrative, rewarding careers, and still some do not require four year degrees or time extensive training.

Health care is a very rewarding career, and job security is inevitable, especially with experience and tenure, simply due to the fact that illnesses and death are just parts of life, uninfluenced by economic status or stability. People do not stop getting sick if the economy is down. When you think of health care, you think of doctors and nurses, but unbeknownst to those not privy to the inner workings of the industry, it is a large field with endless opportunities if you have the patience and patients, homonym intended. There are several jobs that one can have in the health care field, some of which do not require a doctorate or bachelor’s degree.

Physician assistants have the same functions as a doctor except for opening up their own practices or medicating patients, in some cases. They do not earn as much as doctors or receive the potential notoriety, but they are well above median salary. Nurse practitioners can earn enviable salaries and even specialize or start up specialty practices. Often times, people visiting their general physician will actually see a nurse practitioner in the office. Diagnostic cardiac sonographers are also popular careers with a high demand rate due to the technological specialization. They collect reflected echoes and Doppler signals from images and tracings of a person’s heart, using ultrasound equipment to assess the condition of the different functions and valves of the human heart, very useful due to the high rate of cardiac illness in a fast food society.

Physician assistants must go through a two-year training program, and at least two years of college and a license exam, and the median salary is $62.000 per year. A nurse practitioner does need a master’s degree in nursing and the median salary is $74,000 per year. A cardiac sonographer only needs a two-year associate’s degree, or in some cases, a 1-year certificate in diagnostic sonography while a laboratory technician needs a bachelor’s degree with coursework in chemistry, biology, and statistics and state certification and licensing upon completion. Both of these supporting careers have a median salary of over $50,000 a year each.

With a specialized technical background and education, a rewarding career can be found in the manufacturing industry. In an earlier article, we discussed how Hewlett-Packard was downgrading production but hiring in development. This is a booming job market if you can be placed in a job that focuses on the promise or specialization of a market that is beginning to cycle forward quicker than usual, in an effort to come out of the recession ahead of a respective field. Some newer jobs with high skill levels are opening up and they are really only requiring some vocational training and/or apprenticeships.

Computer control operators use computer numerically controlled machines (or CNC) to make precision products for a variety of machines and automobiles. CNC programmers develop programs that run the tools the operators use. They review computer aided design blueprints of the products and determine what the machine will have to do, in a sequence of events, to cut, shape, and assemble the part. The number of jobs in these fields is projected to decline slightly over the next seven years, but with this type of training, it is inevitable that a CNC operator or programmer will have endless opportunities in development fields of all sorts, especially in a society that is always technologically developing, also due to the limited number of professionals entering training programs and difficulty companies have in hiring workers with the necessary skills and knowledge. Operators and programmers need either a two-year degree or combination of vocational degree and apprenticeship. An operator can make $33,000 a year and a programmer can make $44,000.

Although the financial services industry has significantly declined over the past year, especially in the recession, actuarial services, an overlooked financial sector, is still booming. Actuaries develop, price, and evaluate financial insurance products such as life, auto, health or homeowners insurance. The demand is already up, and experts agree that this sector of the financial field will grow exponentially before 2016.

Even amid the downfall of the financial industry in the recession, financial analysts and planners are still necessary and popular. Analysts evaluate the economic outlook of sectors and industries for organizations to invest in or assess. Personal financial planners and advisors help individuals with personal investments and finances. Financial analysts can work in a variety of industries, though some might consider going the self-employment route as they can make three to five times what a salaried employee is making, more along a freelance line. An actuary needs a bachelor’s degree in mathematics, statistics, or finance and the related professional certification and makes a median salary of $86,000. A financial analyst normally needs a bachelor’s degree in finance and can make around $48,000. A financial planner needs a bachelor’s degree in finance and to pass the certification examination. He or she can make a median salary of $61,000.