The right to disconnect

Over at Crooked Timber John Quiggin has a piece, Back to the office: a solution in search of a problem (feb. 27, 2024) where I read:

But the rise of working from home and, more recently, Labor’s right to disconnect legislation pose unprecedented threats to the power of managers over information workers — those employees formerly known as “office workers.”

I'd never heard of such legislation. Apparently it's now a thing:

The right to disconnect is the idea that employers shouldn’t require employees to perform any work-related duties outside their set work hours. The concept suggests workers have the right to a personal life that isn’t interrupted by tasks, such as answering messages or completing projects, once they’ve “clocked out” for the day.

While this isn’t a particularly new idea, the right to disconnect has gained popularity due to the increase in mobile technology and remote work. More employees are working from home, which can sometimes lead to employers reaching out to them more outside of traditional workday hours. But this accessibility can have a negative impact on a worker’s physical and mental health.

That’s why new legislation is circulating about the right to disconnect—although it’s not without pushback. Some employers believe they’re too vague, unenforceable, not flexible enough across time zones, and can’t work for every type of organization.

That article, at PeopleKeep, goes on to list some examples:

France passed a law in January 2017 requiring employers and unions to support employees' right to disconnect in a way that works best for their business. While the method used to comply with this law is up to the employer, some ideas include having a cut-off time to respond to emails or redirecting emails to other workers when the cut-off point begins.

In December 2018, Spain created a remote working law, which includes the right to disconnect to promote a proper work-life balance. The law requires employers and employees to agree on a specific time of day to limit all work-related communication.

Since January 2022, employers in Portugal with ten or more staff members may face a penalty if they contact their employees outside of regular work hours. The “right to rest” law also allows employees to work from home if they have kids under eight years old.

Ontario enacted its right to disconnect law in June 2022 as part of the Working for Workers Act1. It requires businesses with more than 25 employees to have a written policy allowing workers to disconnect outside regular work hours. Before this law, employers typically didn’t ask Ontario employees to work more than eight hours daily.