The Right to Disconnect

Abstract

This paper addresses the employee’s right to disconnect, which means refraining from professional activity after working hours in the form of answering phones, checking e-mail, or replying to instant messaging. This right directly correlates with the employee’s right to rest and with the employer’s obligation to provide the employee with safe and hygienic working conditions. The issue of exercising this right had already been a difficult one, but it was the outbreak of the SARS-CoV-2 virus that intensified and accelerated certain processes related to employee’s rest and the disruption of work-life balance. Nowadays, the right to disconnect can be inferred from the employee’s right to rest. However, this requires goodwill on the part of both the employer and social partners. Finally, the author discusses the legal consequences of violating the employee’s right to disconnect, the measures that the employer needs to take before legislative changes are made, and where such changes ought to be introduced.