I missed this on Stuff, but heard it on RadioNZ today.
Workers who find themselves answering work emails on their smartphones after the end of their shifts in Brazil can now qualify for overtime under a new law.
The new legislation was approved by President Dilma Rousseff last month.
It says company emails to workers are equivalent to orders given directly to the employee.
Labour attorneys told the Folha de Sao Paulo newspaper the new law makes it possible for workers answering emails after hours to ask for overtime pay.
Judging by the vox pop comments of Brazilian workers on the RadioNZ piece, this isn’t necessarily a popular move. I can understand that. Turning off the emails after hours is a hard thing to do. It has become such a way of life for many working people, but even more so for those who believe their job depends on it.
This issue has started to emerge in several corners of the world. In May 2011, Chicago policeman Jeffrey Allen filed a class action suit against the city, asking for unpaid overtime compensation.
In December 2011, German carmaker Volkswagen agreed to deactivate e-mails on German staff Blackberry devices out of office hours to give them a break.
German telco Deutsche Telekom and consumer goods maker Henkel have also introduced measures to curb after-hours emails to reduce the pressure on workers to be always on call.
Remember the “work life balance” stuff we used to talk about?
Am I just old-fashioned in thinking that working lives are important, but so are our families as well?
Nah. If you don’t want to respond to e-mail after hours, tell the boss where to stick it.
You damn socialists should not take away my right to be available to my customers when they need me.
How exactly is an email to employees assisting an employer’s company to provide service to customers? This is not about customer service.
Aside from the fact that I deal with my employer’s customers directly via e-mail, my employer is *my* customer.
James, which words did Darien use to suggest she wanted to take away your customers ‘right’.
The story is about a proposed law in Brasil which gives employees overtime for such after hours work.
I hope you arent so quick to jump to conclusions and wave the sabre when your customers call – at anytime
In our industry we deal with many countries who operate outside of our time zone, I am no stranger to being up at some ungodly hour communicating with one of our partners to ensure that our customers freight is loaded as planned.
It’s just a fact of life which you accept if you decide to work in our indsutry.
ghostwhowalksnz – Because that would be taking away my right to do so at whatever rate I might negotiate with my employer.
@gww thanks for pointing out the obvious to James. It’s appreciated.
Um, James, you imply that you’re paid for answering those emails after hours. The article was about people who weren’t and, when they asked to be paid for the extra time, were refused.
In other words, it was about people who weren’t being paid for their time now being able to demand payment from their employer.