SURE, THIS WILL WORK

Under new regulations introduced in Belgium, government workers will be entitled to ignore their bosses if they're contacted after hours.

(Thanks to Jim Kenaston)

Comments

[Laete Werke IV]

So the Belgians will no longer be allowed to waffle on this issue?

[Jim]

Apparently passive-aggressive union members were actually able to unite and get something done. This may have been a minor miracle in itself.

[Clankie]

Consistency between working and non-working hours was long overdue.

[Rod Nunley]

Heck, I thought most of those Euro types felt entitled to ignore their bosses DURING working hours.

[Steverino]

Key Phrase: "However, there are no clear penalties if the regulations are broken."

[anthony stewart]

I remember my boss calling me one Christmas eve; one of our plants needed emergency supplies. Like a good employee I went to the office and handled the situation. I think I got a "that's a good boy" pat on the back. It did make good relations with the plant supervisor, though.

[Le Petomane]

Belgians need permission to ignore their bosses. Over here we don't need no stinkin' permission to ignore our bosses.

[ripleysparrow]

So much for Belgian neutrality.

[Rod Nunley]

anthony, years ago I got a call from a customer on Christmas DAY. His company had an old server. He wanted help doing a backup, because he wanted to reboot and feared it wouldn't. So I ran the backup (to quarter-inch tape in those days), he went to reboot, and that thing never ran again.

So why did he do this on Christmas Day? Turns out he and the wife were at her family's place for the holiday, and this gave him an excuse to ditch the in-laws for a while.

[wanderer2575]

Other Key Phrase: "Workers can only be 'contacted outside normal working hours in exception and unforeseen circumstances and where action is required that cannot wait until the next working period'"

How will workers know whether it's an exception unless they answer the phone?

[Steve]

A very effective way to get the boss to minimize the calls would be: Whenever an employer calls an employee off-hours for any work-related purpose, the employee must be paid for 4 hours, plus any time actually worked, all at overtime rate.