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New Delhi: In what should come as good news for private sector employees in India, Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule has introduced the Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025, in the Lok Sabha.
The new bill grants employees the power to shut out any communication regarding work outside the scheduled office hours. The bill aims to enable employees in the country to keep their professional and personal lives separated by arming them with the legal right to ignore calls, emails, and messages from employers beyond official hours without any fear.
Sule introduced the private member's bill as a non-ministerial proposal. The bill also focuses on creating an Employees' Welfare Authority so that the regulation is implemented, and complaints in case of violations can be filed.
The bill aims to force private sector companies to establish clear policies on contacting employees after working hours, and the latter can decline responses to non-emergency communications. The bill seeks to promote a healthier work-life balance, and the welfare authority would act on complaints and penalise firms that do not comply with the regulation. Also, it aims to make both sides aware of rights and responsibilities.
In 2017, France enacted the Right to Disconnect as part of the El Khomri Labour Law. It mandated companies to negotiate with unions so that employees do not feel pressured to be online after working hours. Especially, firms with more than 50 employees have to negotiate agreements on communications beyond official hours.
In 2021, Portugal enacted such a law in which employers face bans and fines for contacting staff outside shifts. The law also pertains to remote workers who have to be compensated for expenses regarding the office at home, and has banned all kinds of monitoring tools. Italy embedded the right in 2017 for workers of both public and private sectors, with Australia implementing such a law in 2024, targeting mostly large firms.
However, there are no such protections for employees in the United States, showing the intense work culture there. Occupational Safety and Health Administration states that around 80 per cent of workers in the US have reported stress related to jobs that has also affected the personal life of more than half of them.
