Right to Disconnect: What Countries Grant It in 2024?

With the rise of remote working and flexible hours in the past few years, it has become harder for employees to draw boundaries between their personal and professional lives, as there is often no designated workplace or fixed working hours. However, this phenomenon has also impacted hybrid employees, as well as those who are in the office full-time.

Other stressors, such as mass layoffs and the high cost of living in several countries, have made employees feel like they must always be on call and cannot refuse additional responsibilities for fear of losing their jobs.

This has led to several countries introducing right-to-disconnect laws, which aim to protect employees from being exploited or overworked by their employers and promote better mental health and well-being.

Table of Contents Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. What Is the Right to Disconnect & How Does It Work?
3. The Right to Disconnect by Countries
4. The Future of the Global Right to Disconnect
5. The Bottom Line
6. FAQs
7. References

Show Full Guide

Table of Contents

1. Key Takeaways
2. What Is the Right to Disconnect & How Does It Work?
3. The Right to Disconnect by Countries
Show Full Guide
4. The Future of the Global Right to Disconnect
5. The Bottom Line
6. FAQs
7. References

What Is the Right to Disconnect & How Does It Work?

• This law restricts employers from contacting employees outside of their working hours.
• It greatly reduces the risk of retaliation against employees refusing to engage in work before and after hours.
• In many cases, employers who repeatedly disregard this law can also be fined and risk facing tribunals.

Several countries have adopted the right-to-disconnect law in an attempt to protect employees’ right to switch off and enhance their mental and physical well-being while also reducing employee exploitation.

The Right to Disconnect by Countries

Australia

Australia’s right to disconnect has recently been implemented. It applies to medium and large businesses and their employees from August 26 this year and to small businesses and their employees from August 26, 2025.

This law does not prevent employers or third parties like clients and suppliers from contacting employees outside of agreed-upon work hours; however, it does give employees the right not to monitor or engage with such communication unless it would be deemed unreasonable.

Whether it is unreasonable or not to engage depends on several factors, including:

• The reason for the contact
• The employee’s seniority and responsibility level
• How well they are compensated for being on-call outside of their hours

Both employers and employees are encouraged to discuss and agree upon their working hours and what kind of situations would warrant an answer outside of those.

Failure to comply with this understanding once agreed upon can lead to fines for both parties.

France

France implemented the right to disconnect in January 2017. It does not make it illegal for employers to contact or try to contact employees outside their regular hours. Still, it gives employees the right to ignore or not monitor such communication.

However, France mandates that employers with union delegates discuss this issue during annual negotiations and try to reach a beneficial agreement for all the parties.

In case no such agreement is reached, employers still need to have official guidelines in place for when the right to disconnect can be exercised.

As such, France allows employers to adapt these rules to their specific business requirements but ensures that the right to disconnect issue is addressed under all circumstances.

Companies that breach these requirements could be fined about €3,750, and senior management could, in some cases, face up to one year in prison.

A compliance manager at Naturecan, who asked to remain anonymous, said in an email note to Techopedia:

“In France, the legislation applies to all companies with more than 50 employees. Companies are required to negotiate agreements with employees about when they will disconnect. This makes it mandatory to address the issue, which can be seen as a positive, but the drawback is that its enforcement can be challenging.”

Belgium

Belgium recently introduced its right-to-disconnect law as part of the Labour Deal, which has been enforced since April 1, 2023.

Businesses with 20 or more workers are required to have a company-wide policy outlining the right to disconnect.

This policy includes a general framework detailing how employees can use their right to disconnect in that specific business or industry. It also has guidelines for the safe and responsible use of digital tools, as well as how employees can make sure that their tech does not disturb their holidays and rest periods.

The policy also includes a section on the risks of too much digital connection and appropriate awareness and training campaigns regarding this.

Naturecan’s compliance manager told Techopedia:

“In Belgium, the rules are more explicit, employees cannot be required to engage in work-related communications outside working hours. This creates a clear boundary between work and personal time. However, the law’s exceptions for emergencies (which can be subjective) or mutual agreement can create loopholes, potentially undermining its effectiveness.”

Although explicit consequences have not yet been clarified under this law, employers in breach of these requirements could potentially face criminal sanctions under the Social Criminal Code.

Ireland

Ireland brought in its right to disconnect in April 2021, which is based on three pillars. This includes:

• Employees’ right not to be punished or face any negative consequences for disconnecting from work outside of their hours
• Employees’ right to not have to regularly work outside of their agreed-upon hours
• Both employers and employees should respect other people’s right to disconnect

However, this regulation recognizes that certain emergency situations may require contact outside hours.

It also acknowledges that this may be harder to implement in businesses with flexible working hours and encourages employers to reach agreements with their employees regarding agreed-upon hours in these cases.

At present, no specific penalties have been laid out for employers in disregard of this regulation, however, employees are eligible to use proof of repeated breaches in other legal disputes regarding working hours and conditions.

Italy

Italy also implemented the right to disconnect in 2017, however, this mostly applies to remote working, under the 81/2017 law. This regulation says that the details of remote work need to be put into and agreed upon in writing.

This agreement should also include what the business is doing to support employees disconnecting from their work tech outside of their hours, as well as details of their rest periods.

However, in 2021, the Italian Privacy Authority introduced the 30 Law Decree to further expand the right to disconnect legislation.

With this law, employees are now protected from any negative impact or retaliation affecting their employment or salaries if they disconnect from their work tech outside their working hours.

The country also introduced regulations requiring remote work to be done in shifts or slots, which will further ensure a rest or disconnection period.

USA

Currently, the US does not have a federal right to disconnect law as yet. However, California’s right to disconnect proposal, as well as proposals in Washington and New York City have received a lot of attention, although no legislation has been passed yet.

Some of the reasons for the delay in state and federal legislation is due to implementation concerns, as well as concerns about time zone differences. Worries about how it would impact small businesses, as well as intervene or overlap with overtime law have also been put forward.

However, to make up for the lack of state or federal regulations regarding this, several individual US companies such as Workplace Options, an employee well-being company, have introduced their own right to disconnect policies.

UK

The UK also does not have the right to disconnect yet, although the new Labour government has recently proposed one. However, the country does have the Working Time Regulations 1998 (WTR) law, which includes directives for rest breaks, working hours, and what holidays employees are entitled to.

At present, UK employees are not protected from their employers contacting them outside of work hours. The Labour government has proposed a new Code of Practice to amend this, which means that employers will now have to agree with their workers regarding which situations may call for work communication outside agreed-upon hours.

However, employers are expected to have some flexibility to tweak these situations depending on particular sectors and business needs.

Although disregarding this law, if it comes into effect, may not always lead to tribunal claims, it may strengthen employees’ cases in other matters, such as unfair dismissal.

Some Latin American countries, such as Argentina, Chile, and Brazil also have some versions of right-to-disconnect laws, mainly for remote workers, but are still struggling with implementation and the associated backlash.

The Future of the Global Right to Disconnect

Several countries and companies alike are increasingly acknowledging the mental health, productivity, and well-being benefits of the right to disconnect, as well as being more open to propose legislation to implement it.

A compliance manager at Naturecan, said in an email note:

“Several countries, including Belgium, Italy, Portugal, and France – which was the first to introduce it in 2017– have implemented right-to-disconnect legislation. These laws and regulations are part of a growing movement in Europe to protect workers’ mental health and work-life balance.

“In a world where the boundaries between work and personal life are increasingly blurred, it’s encouraging to see countries taking action to protect workers’ work-life balance. However, the ideal legislative framework for achieving this balance is still yet to be determined.”

While some countries such as Chile currently only have this law for remote workers, it is more likely that this could be expanded to include all kinds of employees, including full-time and hybrid ones soon.

Diana Soprana Blažaitienė, an international HR and remote work expert for the hospitality and IT sectors across Germany and Scandinavia, said:

“The right to disconnect law is an essential tool for remote and hybrid teams. It can help to have the right work-life balance, avoid burnout and employees stay productive. What I would like to emphasize is that the right to disconnect is extremely important for managers and executives.

“Statistics show that burnout is extremely high among middle managers, especially those who lead hybrid or fully remote teams. So, it is very important that this rule be applied to both them and employees equally.

“It seems to me that the biggest issue with this law for companies is the need to develop clear policies that balance employee rights with business needs, potentially requiring investments in technologies or additional staff.

 

“Another thing to think about is how to create psychological safety, so that team members (both employees and managers) can boldly and openly discuss what challenges they face after starting to apply this rule and find the best solution for both parties.”

However, a number of challenges still exist when it comes to passing this law in countries that don’t have it yet. These include implementation issues, how to handle work emergencies, and how this law would apply to flexible working situations and companies working across different time zones, amongst others.

Some industries or job functions may also need a few people to always be on-call, such as IT professionals overseeing critical infrastructure, emergency services, and armed forces. It may also be difficult to ensure that employees are not being retaliated against, or to appropriately penalise employers flouting this law.

The Bottom Line

Countries such as France, Belgium, and Ireland have already implemented right-to-disconnect laws. This has gone a long way in helping protect work-life balance and mental health, increasing productivity, and ensuring that employees are not exploited or overworked.

Other countries, such as Italy and parts of Latin America also have these rules, however, they apply mostly to remote workers, while countries such as the UK and parts of the US have proposed right to disconnect legislation, which is yet to be approved.

However, there are still a number of challenges when it comes to implementing this law, especially in situations with flexible working, or in industries where employees are more required to be on-call outside hours, such as emergency services.

FAQs