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French companies will be required to guarantee a "right to disconnect" to their employees from Sunday as the country seeks to tackle the modern-day scourge of compulsive out-of-hours email checking. From January 1, a new employment law will enter into force that obliges organisations with more than 50 workers to start negotiations to define the rights of employees to ignore their smartphones.
Overuse of digital devices has been blamed for everything from burnout to sleeplessness as well as relationship problems, with many employees uncertain of when they can switch off. The French measure is intended to tackle the so-called "always-on" work culture that has led to a surge in usually unpaid overtime—while also giving employees flexibility to work from outside the office.
http://phys.org/news/2017-01-french-workers-disconnect.html
[Also Covered By]: The Guardian , Sky News
(Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @05:04AM
There are plenty of types of contracts that are not recognized as valid. You can't sign yourself into slavery, for instance. This is a less extreme example, but I see no problem with declaring certain types of contracts which are typically used to exploit people as invalid.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @05:29AM
Why not?
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday January 03 2017, @05:38AM
We do have a form of slavery one can sign themselves into if they aren't careful. Its called DEBT.
Its really easy to get sucked into this thing, but often very hard to get out of it.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 1) by RS3 on Tuesday January 03 2017, @06:06AM
I have no debt but I know that the more you have, the higher they charge you interest on debt.
Going to college used to mean you could keep up with or get ahead of the debt spiral. Now it's the cause of it.
I put myself through college starting 30+ years ago at a major US university. I recently checked the inflation calculator and adjusted for inflation the tuition has gone up almost 5x.
(Score: 1) by anubi on Tuesday January 03 2017, @06:17AM
I know what they ( the banking elite ) are doing, and it really sickens me.
But what sickens me even more is the docile public accepts it and will play the game by the rules set out by the elite.
"Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Tuesday January 03 2017, @10:23AM
Well, the system is set up that you'll have a very hard time if you don't play by the rules.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 2, Touché) by RS3 on Tuesday January 03 2017, @05:31PM
That system is only in place because sheeple https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sheeple [wikipedia.org] empower it by creating and being the market for it.
I have a whole lot more to say about it but you're spared because I have to get back to work.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @10:28AM
Debt is offset by government funding. Two factors are behind it: (A) It incentivizes universities to increase fee (B) It allows government to interfere in college administration.
The unintended consequence is that it puts pressure on colleges to perform, so they hire smart poor students from abroad instead of subsidizing local poor students who aren't doing good.
Now, as a banker, it is your duty to realize that this condition is ripe for profiteering. You can't really blame them, that's their job.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @05:01PM
You can't really blame them, that's their job.
Not everything that exists should exist...nor is it desirable that it exists
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday January 04 2017, @05:26AM
I am not saying that it should exist or it is right. I am highlighting the area where problem exists vs. the agent exploiting that area. Banks are just leeches and they are not going to go away because they are part of human nature. Government involvement in policy development of higher education, though, is a problem and it can be solved relatively easily, as long as we the people want it.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @03:05PM
Because we spent centuries getting rid of crap like this.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by theluggage on Tuesday January 03 2017, @04:13PM
Why not?
Because, in practice, everyday folk who want to eat hot meals and sleep indoors don't have the luxury of picking and choosing which contracts they sign, and if one employer gets away with sneaking unconscionable terms into their contract, pretty soon those terms will be standard boilerplate in every contract.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @04:26PM
You are angry at the finite availability of resources in the universe, not employers; after all, those "evil" employers are necessarily better improving the lives of the people they employ, even if only a little.
(Score: -1, Troll) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @05:40AM
I don't know what you mean by "slavery". It seems like you're saying that it's not possible for a person to agree to do something that is disagreeable; your argument is a tautology—you are making a poor deduction based on your own poor set of terms.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @05:49AM
It seems like you're saying that it's not possible for a person to agree to do something that is disagreeable
No, and that interpretation is ridiculous.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @05:58AM
Yes. Your argument is indeed ridiculous.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @07:51AM
Your ability to comprehend what is being said is nearly nonexistent.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday January 03 2017, @01:34PM
I don't know what you mean by "slavery". It seems like you're saying that it's not possible for a person to agree to do something that is disagreeable; your argument is a tautology—you are making a poor deduction based on your own poor set of terms.
I don't know what you mean by "slavery". It seems like you're saying that it's not possible for a person to agree to do something that is disagreeable; your argument is a tautology—you are making a poor deduction based on your own poor set of terms.