France's 'Right To Disconnect' Is Now Live, For Reasons Passing Understanding

The American solution to this "problem" isn't government regulation.

(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

(Photo by Joe Raedle/Getty Images)

As of the first of this year, France has a new labor standard. The French “right to disconnect” applies to companies with over 50 people, and it gives workers the rights to negotiate after-hours email policies with their employers.

The law is almost comically French. This is a country were young people riot in the streets when the government threatens to raise the retirement age. This is a culture that treats five weeks of paid vacation as a right. In France, you can get a corporate giant to worry about employees being “stressed out” over the weekends. From Time:

“Today the digital tools are blurring the boundary between personal and professional lives,” Bruno Mettling, human resources director of the French telecom giant Orange, wrote in a report for the government before the new law came into effect. “With this accumulation of emails, and these employees who return exhausted from the weekend because they have not disconnected, it is not the best way to be effective in companies.” He added that that employees felt increasingly at east checking their personal emails in the office; after all, there was no longer any clear beginning or end to their work days.

What the merde is this? I always feel like the manager who sends the email on the weekend is the person who is ruining his or her “work/life balance,” not the employee who receives it. Seriously, go ahead, send me an email on Saturday, Winston ain’t reading it. At some point, people have to take personal responsibility for the protection of their own free time.

The French law has no teeth. There are no penalties in place for employers who ignore the new rules. Though, since this is France, there’s a non-zero chance that the employer who illegal sends an email after hours will get a pitchfork to the gut on Monday morning.

On the opposite end of the spectrum, there’s the American Biglaw firm. Turning in my CrackBerry when I quit Biglaw was as close as I’ll come to knowing what it must have felt like to read the Emancipation Proclamation in real time.

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Remember when Weil Gotshal mocked this law with a cruel April Fool’s joke? Biglaw partners aren’t worried if you “return exhausted from the weekend.” In fact:

weekend

The American solution to this “problem” isn’t government regulation. It’s creating another market opportunity for the “wellness” crowd. From NBC News:

“We need to learn digital manners,” said Orianna Fielding, founder of The Digital Detox Company which runs retreats and courses for firms looking to help their employees manage their digital lives in a healthier way.

“I think I would like to see acceptance and an awareness of how digital overload is negatively impacting the modern workplace, and finding solutions. I think we need to have digital wellness programs in every company, and I think every company needs a head of email,” she added.

“Retreats.” “Courses.” “Digital wellness programs in every company.” You can almost hear the people at Chase Ink scream, “We’ve got a live one!”

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American is not going to have a “right to disconnect.” Instead, we’re going to fall back on our “right to sell anything people are desperate enough to buy.”

France’s ‘Right to Disconnect’ Law Isn’t All It’s Cracked Up to Be [Time]
France ‘Right to Disconnect’ Law: Do We Need Rules To Reclaim Personal Time? [NBC News]

Earlier: Biglaw Firm Makes Big Joke Out Of Work/Life Balance


Elie Mystal is an editor of Above the Law and the Legal Editor for More Perfect. He can be reached @ElieNYC on Twitter, or at elie@abovethelaw.com. He will resist.