'Right to disconnect' law would allow employees in France to ignore work emails

The French government could pass a new law giving employees the right to ignore work emails outside working hours.

The move is aimed at helping workers to achieve a better work/life balance under the 'Right to disconnect' provisions.

The law would mean that companies with more than 50 employees would need a policy setting hours during which workers are not allowed to read or respond to emails.

Dr Ciaran McMahon, director of the Institute of Cyber Security, said there may be problems enforcing it, however.

"I think it's a real problem when it starts to impinge on family life, when people are at home, when they should be spending time with their children or with their spouses and instead they're tied to their iPhone and they're looking at their work emails," he said.

"So in the implementation of how it's actually going to be carried out, I'm not entirely sure how it's going to work."