[latch]

What? I'm not sure where you live, but the vaste majority of countries/states/territories/whatever have laws that protect employees with respect to working hours.

Your remark is so odd to me, I feel like I either completely misunderstood it or you live in a very sad place.

edit: What you are saying to me sounds like "It's odd that you called the police because someone shot you; I really don't see how this could be resolved except for forming a vigilante group"

[dantheman]

The objection is that people should be able to voluntarily interact in any way they see fit. If they want to work lots of hours then there is nothing wrong with this.

This is very different than being shot, which is a violation of someones rights.

[latch]

A couple points. First, some of the labour laws that I've seen actually _explicitly_ forbid such agreements because they are afraid it'll lead to abuse...kinda like "agree to work a 20 hour shift or you're fired." The strictest I've seen for this is around minimum wage and minimum vacation time. Simply, there are some rights you can't give away because it would too easily lead to people taking them away.

Secondly, sleep is a basic human right. It's possible that you just take it for granted.

[nhangen]

That's the problem - you see the employer as a bad guy taking away someone's sleep, but the employee has a choice no?

Are you going to argue next that having a job, with perfect hours and perfect pay, is also a right?

[ido]

AFAIK in the western world this sort of "freedom" is only available in the USA (if at all, I am not that familiar with the laws over there).

In Austria it is illegal[1] not to offer compensation for working overtime, and I'll bet it is the same in NZ as well.

[1] http://www.wko.at/ubit/kv/IT-KV_2011.pdf

[yummyfajitas]

Well, the laws protect some employees at the expense of others. Specifically, they protect employees who prefer time to money while harming employees who prefer money over time.

It's just protectionism - some people can't compete and use the government to hobble the competition.

[nhangen]

Comparing this to getting shot is a little dramatic don't you think?

Again, I'll go to my original point, which is that if you don't like the hours your employer has asked you to work in exchange for the salary that they are paying, then find a new job. I see no need for regulation here, especially in our industry, where there are more jobs than people.

[kenjackson]

Some people have decided to live in a society where employees typically don't work consistently at the border between having a job and quitting.

If you do prefer a society where employers are not regulated at all, there probably are places in the world you can "choose" to live.

[nhangen]

I choose to live in the US, and again, this is not a problem if you choose your job properly.