The French wing of British pest control and hygiene giant Rentokil Initial has been ordered to pay a former employee €60,000 (£53,000) because it failed to respect his “right to disconnect” from his phone and computer outside office hours.

The ruling is believed to be the first of its kind since a 2016 law on the right to switch off such electronic devices became effective on January 1 last year in response to the modern-day scourge of compulsive out-of-hours email and message checking.

In its decision dated July 12, France’s Court de Cassation, its Supreme Court, found it unfair for the unnamed ex-employee, a former South West regional director of the company in France, to have to “permanently leave his telephone on…to respond to requests from his subordinates or customers” in case of any problems while not at work.

The ex-employee, dubbed Mr Y, was fired in 2011 and took his ex-employer to the worker’s tribunal, asking for compensation for the extra hours "on call".

The company did not consider that the ex-director was officially on call while not in the office after hours or on holidays and weekends because there was no stipulation that he needed to remain close to his home to field calls and deal with emergency business.