Out of hours work

paul78

I was curious if anyone in the US worked for German companies. Or if any one here works in EU countries that have similar labour restrictions about working out-of-hours. In the US, the concept of banning out-of-hours work is exceedingly rare unless you are a union or non-exempt employee. But I was recently wondering if any US companies followed the concepts that I understand is common in Germany. I wonder how on-call IT support works in those organizations with regard to coverage and compensation.

For those that are unfamiliar with what I'm asking - last year in Germany, the Labour Ministry banned out-of-hours working. Out of hours working banned by German labour ministry - Telegraph

tycar86

I feel like a lot of companies would shut the doors if that law were passed in the US. Overtime has been mandatory for most of the companies I have worked for/with.

tprice5

I code 3.2 overtime hours every day I work and often stay beyond that. If it wasn't for the overtime I likely wouldn't even consider working here.

solohombre

I would imagine the key rule to break is "The labour ministry's rules only allow contact if the task cannot be postponed until the next working day". Who defines what or what not can wait until the next day. I've always worked in an on-call environment, or at 7 x 24 NOC type of environment. I loved my OT and mileage until they screwed me up with a promotion.

paul78

I'm not really referring to non-exempt work in the US. The labor regulations in EU countries are curious to me. And unlike the US, a lot of EU countries are not "employment at will" based. And work councils represent workers. I wonder if any multi-national German or EU-based companies that operate in the US have ever instituted EU-like worker norms.

For example, I have read that Volkswagen which is Europe's largest automotive manufacturer actually turns off delivery of emails to workers during non-working hours. It would be interesting if any US-based company would actually be so progressive.

tpatt100

Europe is very labor friendly from what I have read in some studies but I think that is due to the European Union and needing to be more cooperative labor wise due to sharing of borders and labor agreements. Workers crossing borders on work visas is pretty common and it works for them.

I do think some of their labor laws are over reaching a bit like the examples listed but that works in Europe because their labor agreements help form a unified front where as in the US companies can pick and choose in such a big country and states lowering labor requirements to compete for jobs for their states.

The US overtime laws here are pretty antiquated and from my experience some companies abuse the heck out of them. The jobs that qualify as white collar and exempt are pretty ridiculous because for some workers if they work overtime and are exempt their hourly average drops them lower than some jobs with no overtime but less pay. I read that the President issued a memorandum for the Department of Labor to update the regulations for overtime exempt jobs but I am sure big money lobbyists will make any changes almost pointless.

Some places just schedule you overtime as part of your schedule since everybody is exempt which doesn't make sense but as long as you know ahead of time going in.....

--chris--

This might get a better response somewhere like Reddit, where the user base includes EU workers. What subreddit, I am not certain though....

As for German multi-nationals and operating in the US, I know for a fact when Daimler owned Chrysler their IT department here in Auburn Hills kept on like normal. On call schedules, after hours work, etc...

pitviper

I have a buddy who was an on call network engineer at a global company – He would receive calls from China at off-hours all of the time. – and he was considered a salaried employee too (no thank you)

blargoe

tpatt100 wrote: »

Europe is very labor friendly from what I have read in some studies but I think that is due to the European Union and needing to be more cooperative labor wise due to sharing of borders and labor agreements. Workers crossing borders on work visas is pretty common and it works for them.

I do think some of their labor laws are over reaching a bit like the examples listed but that works in Europe because their labor agreements help form a unified front where as in the US companies can pick and choose in such a big country and states lowering labor requirements to compete for jobs for their states.

The US overtime laws here are pretty antiquated and from my experience some companies abuse the heck out of them. The jobs that qualify as white collar and exempt are pretty ridiculous because for some workers if they work overtime and are exempt their hourly average drops them lower than some jobs with no overtime but less pay. I read that the President issued a memorandum for the Department of Labor to update the regulations for overtime exempt jobs but I am sure big money lobbyists will make any changes almost pointless.

The problem here is different industries are in the pockets of the politicians in Washington (not going to get into a political disucssion here, but people from all political parties are involved with this). The Fair Labor Standards Act has been amended over the years to add more types of positions to the "exempt" category, while the wage that is being used as the baseline has rarely been adjusted. Which sort of violates the spirit of the FLSA to begin with, but whatever...

I haven't been in a position as an exempt IT professional where at least some consideration has been given to working excessively long hours when required, in the form of comp time (on and off books), overtime pay or some other form of compensation. I have not always been given an even exchange of pay rate per hour over 40/week, but usually get some thing in return for going way over my normal shift. Maybe I am more of the exception than the rule.