Right to disconnect from work e-mail and other laws take effect in France
Divorces don't need a judge's nod; cigarette packs to sport only health warnings; thin plastic bags and pesticides in public areas are out; labelling of prepared food tightened
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IF the world does not envy the French enough already for their generous vacations, universal health care, and fine food and wine, the arrival of 2017 brings this: a newly created "right to disconnect". Though ridiculed in some quarters as a ban on work-related e-mail after hours, it is not quite that. But it is borne of the enlightened view that it is actually beneficial for people not to work all the time, and that workers have the right to occasionally draw the line when their employer's demands intrude on evenings at home, treasured vacations or Sundays with friends and family.
"Employees are more and more connected during hours outside of the office," Myriam El Khomri, the minister of labour, said last year in justifying the need for the law. "The boundary between professional and personal life has become tenuous" and cases of burnout are becoming more prevalent, she said.
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