CERFRANCE 71 frees staff from after-hours email duty

CERFRANCE 71, the Saône-et-Loire management and accounting association (AGC 71) based in Mâcon, has adopted a three-year right-to-disconnect agreementLegifrance. Concluded with the representative unions under article L.2242-17, 7° of the Code du travail, it applies to the entire staff, takes effect on 1 October 2026Legifrance and runs to 30 September 2029 unless the parties renew itLegifrance.

The agreement defines the right to disconnect as the employee's right not to be connected to professional digital tools outside working time. Professional digital tools cover physical devices (computers, tablets, smartphones, wired networks) and dematerialised ones (software, wireless connections, email, internet/extranet) that allow remote reachability; working time means the hours the employee is at the employer's disposal, including normal and overtime hours but excluding daily and weekly rest, paid leave, exceptional leave, public holidays and rest days.

To fight information overload, all employees are advised to consider whether professional email is the right channel versus a direct call or face-to-face contact for urgent or complex matters, to check the relevance of recipients and attachments, to use CC and reply-all sparingly, to use mailing groups properly, to avoid oversized files and to give each email a precise subject line.

To prevent digital-tool stress, the agreement points to existing company measures — the out-of-office manager on email with an emergency contact, a dedicated voicemail message with redirection for mobile-equipped staff, and connection monitoring on SAAS software (SILAE, QUADRA) — and recommends checking a colleague's Outlook diary before contacting them, stating a desired reply date instead of demanding an immediate answer, keeping electronic diaries open across the company, using urgency flags sparingly, and checking colleagues' availability status before disturbing them. Employees are advised against installing professional Outlook on a personal phone. The agreement's communication itself is to serve as a general awareness campaign for managers and staff on the risks and good practice of digital tools.

Outside effective working time, rest, leave and contract-suspension periods must be respected by everyone. Contact between colleagues is to stay within contractual or collective working hours, and contact between 7 p.m. and 8 a.m. and at weekends is to be avoided. An employee is never required to read or answer professional emails outside working time, nor professional calls or messages received during rest or leaveLegifrance; any use of professional email or phone outside working hours must be justified by the seriousness, urgency or importance of the matterLegifrance. Teleworked periods follow the same rules and recommendations.

Follow-up runs through the annual progress interviews (EAP), where each employee reviews the measures, their effectiveness and any difficulties; a user guide for communication tools is made available to staff.

The agreement may be revised at any time by written amendment between the parties, and denounced by either party with three months' notice by registered letter with acknowledgement of receipt filed with the DREETS; disputes over interpretation or application go first to an amicable meeting before any litigation. Filing is made by AGC 71 management on TéléAccords with the required documents, transmitted to the DDETS, plus a copy to the Mâcon conseil de prud'hommes registry.

Legal basis: article L.2242-17, 7° of the Code du travail, as amended by loi n°2019-1428 du 24 décembre 2019; filing under articles L.2231-6, D.2231-2, D.2231-4 to D.2231-5 and D.3313-1 of the Code du travail, as cited by the agreement.