Current Events > Belgium approves 4 day work week and no contact off hours

(+) Yeah! (+)

Workers in Belgium will soon be able to choose a four-day week under a series of labour market reforms announced on Tuesday.
The reform package agreed by the country's multi-party coalition government will also give workers the right to turn off work devices and ignore work-related messages after hours without fear of reprisal.
"We have experienced two difficult years. With this agreement, we set a beacon for an economy that is more innovative, sustainable and digital. The aim is to be able to make people and businesses stronger," Belgian prime minister Alexander de Croo told a press conference announcing the reform package.

Good. Now do it here.

No contact off hours? Good luck getting management not to contact IT staff during off hours/IT staff having to do emergency stuff/maintainence/deployments after hours.

USA more and more like a 3rd world country

the right to turn off work devices and ignore work-related messages after hours without fear of reprisal

emergency/maintainence/deployments are not after hours, they are paid hours

I'll never understand why people answer calls from their managers/bosses on off days.

is already a right in America. When you're off, you're off.

I'll never understand why people answer calls from their managers/bosses on off days.

because they will fire you and you saying it is a right is meaningless

Maybe if you're hourly. For those of us who are salary, we're lucky if we get OT approved for that kinda stuff.

Based

So you are being abused and then lashing out against a country addressing such abuses?
Don't defend the status quo. Doing so just hurts yourself. Like punching your own face.

If you work off the clock, it is overtime for salaried employees as well.
https://www.dol.gov/agencies/whd/overtime

If you worked 40 hours that week and there was an emergency or maintenance, you are legally supposed to be paid overtime.

But of course, a bad employer will make you believe you are not entitled to that and threaten to fire you saying it is not approved.

@pogo_rabid

The federal overtime provisions are contained in the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA). Unless exempt, employees covered by the Act must receive overtime pay for hours worked over 40 in a workweek at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay.

The bolded portion is key. Most salaried employees (myself included) are considered exempt and are excluded from that.

1. The employees salary exceeds $455 per workweek
2. The employee performs duties that satisfy FLSA overtime exemptions

FLSA Exemptions
The Fair Labor Standards Act, or FLSA, outlines specific exemptions that may exclude certain workers from overtime pay regulations. Under section 13(a)(1) of the FLSA, individuals who are employed as bona fide executive, administrative, professional, or outside sales employees qualify for overtime exemptions. It is important to note that job titles alone do not satisfy this requirement; it depends on what duties are performed in the scope of employment. So if an employee works under the title of executive, but does not perform the duties outlined in detail by the FLSA, they are not exempt from overtime pay.
In addition to job duty requirements, there are salary basis requirements that must be met to qualify for the FLSA exemption. The FLSA states that exempt employees must be compensated on a salary basis of not less than $684 per week. Up to 10 percent of this salary basis can be met by bonuses and incentive payments (including commission), which may be paid on a yearly basis.

Curious if they will be expected to work longer hours on those four days. Or if they'll just lose out on an entire day of pay if they chose a four day work week. The article didn't really give those details.

Curious if they will be expected to work longer hours on those four days. Or if they'll just lose out on an entire day of pay if they chose a four day work week. The article didn't really give those details.

No contact off hours? Good luck getting management not to contact IT staff during off hours/IT staff having to do emergency stuff/maintainence/deployments after hours.

Clowns need to stop with this idea of "it worked for this tiny European country, surely it will work for the largest country on the planet! Apples to apples!"

Clowns need to stop with this idea of "it worked for this tiny European country, surely it will work for the largest country on the planet! Apples to apples!"

Maybe if you're hourly. For those of us who are salary, we're lucky if we get OT approved for that kinda stuff.

Non-american countries can sometimes have not s***ty labor laws that lets salaried employees get bonus pay.

I should move to Belgium.

America is no longer the place where the world wants to come to huh?
Funny that.

During one of the Trump years more people left America than immigrated.

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/2/5/AAeQkrAAC7dR.png
lol keep your shithole country

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/2/5/AAeQkrAAC7dR.png
lol keep your shithole country

https://gamefaqs.gamespot.com/a/user_image/8/2/5/AAeQkrAAC7dR.png
lol keep your shithole country

Poker is more important than workers' rights?