French Law Prevents Companies from Contacting Employees After Hours

French companies are no longer allowed to bother their
employees after they leave for the day. Photo: Shutterstock

France has set a new legal precedent by passing a law that prevents employers from contacting employees outside of work hours. The law requires that companies with 50 or more employees negotiate times that those employees can ignore messages, emails, or other forms of contact, such as after they leave work for the day. Smaller companies still have to outline their expectations of employees outside of work hours, and their rights at those times.

The rise of smart phones has led to companies, especially in technology, not only having access to employees who have left for the day, but also expecting them to drop everything and respond to an email or update a file while they’re eating dinner or spending time with their family. This has allowed companies to essentially get countless hours of unpaid work from their employees, who often have no recourse but to do it for fear of losing their jobs.

Some companies have already started doing something similar, in France and elsewhere, in order to help create a better work-life balance for their employees. Germany’s Volkswagen and Daimler have taken steps to limit out-of-hours messaging, as have French nuclear power company Areva and insurer Axa. The companies hope to reduce burnout among workers by doing so.

By passing a law that builds upon this idea, France has said, once again, that workers’ rights are essential to keeping a country running. France has been on the forefront of the battle for workers’ rights in numerous instances, and sometimes those laws catch on elsewhere as well.

While such a law does seem impossible in the United States, it could be expected to catch on in other parts of the European Union, which tends to take a more worker-centric view to business than does the United States. There are, however, numerous companies in the United States that could conceivably adopt similar practices, which could help to create a precedent that might eventually be enshrined in law.