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EU pushes for 'right to disconnect' from work at home

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Re: EU pushes for 'right to disconnect' from work at home

#13
post #7

> The right to disconnect refers to a worker’s right to be able to disengage from work and refrain from engaging in work-related electronic communications, such as emails or other messages, during non-work hours.[1] What does that even mean? Is the EU also going to come out with the "Right to breathe" and the "Right to go to the bathroom when you need to"? I'm really frustrated with how the term "right" has been wate…

>What does that even mean? Is the EU also going to come out with the "Right to breathe" and the "Right to go to the bathroom when you need to"? Have you seen amazon's warehouse work conditions?

Th right to breathe seems like something worth dying for.

Re: EU pushes for 'right to disconnect' from work at home

#14
post #7

> The right to disconnect refers to a worker’s right to be able to disengage from work and refrain from engaging in work-related electronic communications, such as emails or other messages, during non-work hours.[1] What does that even mean? Is the EU also going to come out with the "Right to breathe" and the "Right to go to the bathroom when you need to"? I'm really frustrated with how the term "right" has been wate…

>What does that even mean? Is the EU also going to come out with the "Right to breathe" and the "Right to go to the bathroom when you need to"? Have you seen amazon's warehouse work conditions?

Yes, some people's work conditions are very bad and something needs to be done about that. That's beside the point.

If you need to ask the government to give you the right to use the bathroom, or to give you the right to not check your email, you've already lost.

Re: EU pushes for 'right to disconnect' from work at home

#15

Love this. I've increasingly seen and heard employers trying to take advantage of the current situation and we need more regulation and protection for workers. People are being asked to do extra and too afraid to speak out especially with so many companies making redundancies. One area of focus for me is sickness and working from home. Sick days should be about rest and recovering both physically and mentally. Often…

Along the same lines on sick days, I think it should be forbidden for employers to merge vacation days and sick days into "PTO". Merging the pools gives an incentive for people to come to work while ill. For example, suppose somebody has 3 PTO days remaining for the year, and they are all earmarked for Christmas vacation with family. If that person catches the flu in early December, their options are (a) cancel Christmas plans with family or (b) go to the office anyways.

The two pools must be kept separate as a public health measure. To do anything else gives a massive incentive to be a vector for illness.

Re: EU pushes for 'right to disconnect' from work at home

#16
post #6

> The new legislation, which is expected to be passed by Germany's Bundestag parliament, would allow workers to write off €5 ($6) per day to offset extra heating and electricity costs. That's not feasible or scalable. As it is a balance, they will give you this but will take out somewhere else (less yearly increase and so on). It's almost a disservice...

We have travel compensation 0.19eur/km but got a question from HR how many days were we actually at the office this year since march. 0 for me. So there would be a lot of budget for covering heating, electricity and the wear and tear on my PJs and slippers

Re: EU pushes for 'right to disconnect' from work at home

#17
post #7

> The right to disconnect refers to a worker’s right to be able to disengage from work and refrain from engaging in work-related electronic communications, such as emails or other messages, during non-work hours.[1] What does that even mean? Is the EU also going to come out with the "Right to breathe" and the "Right to go to the bathroom when you need to"? I'm really frustrated with how the term "right" has been wate…

Rights aren't a thing until done by law.

Otherwise you are at mercy of company policy or whims of your employer.

Re: EU pushes for 'right to disconnect' from work at home

#18
post #7

> The right to disconnect refers to a worker’s right to be able to disengage from work and refrain from engaging in work-related electronic communications, such as emails or other messages, during non-work hours.[1] What does that even mean? Is the EU also going to come out with the "Right to breathe" and the "Right to go to the bathroom when you need to"? I'm really frustrated with how the term "right" has been wate…

The right to not work all the time is most definitely an innate freedom of utmost importance, sitting directly on a line throughout history in the fight for worker's rights.

Re: EU pushes for 'right to disconnect' from work at home

#19
post #6

> The new legislation, which is expected to be passed by Germany's Bundestag parliament, would allow workers to write off €5 ($6) per day to offset extra heating and electricity costs. That's not feasible or scalable. As it is a balance, they will give you this but will take out somewhere else (less yearly increase and so on). It's almost a disservice...

Yearly increase in what? Salaries? This would be something that gets written off from the taxes that your employer pays directly to the state for you.

Plus if my getting money for the amount of kilometers I drive between my home and the workplace is scalable and working fine, why wouldn't this be?

Re: EU pushes for 'right to disconnect' from work at home

#20
post #7

> The right to disconnect refers to a worker’s right to be able to disengage from work and refrain from engaging in work-related electronic communications, such as emails or other messages, during non-work hours.[1] What does that even mean? Is the EU also going to come out with the "Right to breathe" and the "Right to go to the bathroom when you need to"? I'm really frustrated with how the term "right" has been wate…

It means that if your contract is for 37.5 hours per week, you don't need to do email and be available on im outside of your daily 7.5 work hours. Being on call needs to be negotiated separately.
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