Disconnect or Pay

Along with the Right to Disconnect I think there needs to be some real talk about the Right to GET PAID. If employees can’t disconnect then at least they should be paid for all the time they are connected. I have worked for the same company for 20+ years. I don’t have a work-from-home type of job and yet my employer has managed to find ways, using technology, to get me to do a lot more work duties from home (and yes, it's all unpaid). I am doing things from home that 5-10 years ago I could only have done when I was physically at my place of work. I am burnt out. I feel like I’m constantly thinking about work and I find it hard to wind down. Because of mobile devices I'm now expected to read and respond to emails, keep up to date with bulletins, file reports, check for schedule changes, all on my own time. To add to this, twice every month I am on-call for 4 days in a row. (total of 8 days). Those on-call days are 24hrs which means that I am essentially on-call for 96hrs and can't “unplug” the whole time. That's 96hrs where my phone is always on. If my company calls, I have to answer the first time they call otherwise I could face some sort of discipline and I have seen that happen to colleagues. My phone has to be beside me when I sleep. I have to take it with me to the bathroom when I shower or use the toilet. It's inhumaine feeling shackled to your phone and not be able to go out to do even the simplest of things like go to a doctor appointment, see a movie with friends, attend a funeral. Please do something so it doesn’t feel like companies own us 24-7.