[joosters]

Sorry, I was unclear. I was expressing my view, and not trying to explain any kind of legal position. What I was saying was that I cannot see how a company can justify owning everything I do outside of my work hours. Whether or not that is in my contract is a different matter. I would urge any potential employee to negotiate any such bad contract if they can.

If my job involved taking clients out to dinner or answering pages in the middle of the night regularly, I would damn well want to be paid for it. Not per-call, but the additional workload would have to be reflected in my salary.

Put it this way: If you are a programmer who never has to do any out-of-hours support, and then suddenly your boss says that you need to be on call 24x7, you'd be a fool not to ask for more pay.

[btilly]

The point is that "outside your work hours" is undefined. If you're receiving a page, is that work hours? If you're thinking about work during your shower, is that work hours?

Most people do a lot of productive work outside regular work hours and outside of the work place. It would be a real problem if they could then tell their employer, "This thing you're depending on? It is actually mine! You have to negotiate for it!"

So laws are passed to guarantee that it is clear who owns the brilliant solution to a work problem that you dream up in the shower. The question is how much other stuff gets swept up in that net.