The right to disconnect is a proposed human right regarding the ability of people to disconnect from work and primarily not to engage in work-related electronic communications such as e-mails or messages during non-work hours. The modern working environment has been drastically changed by new communication and information technologies. The boundary between work life and home life has shrunk with the introduction of digital tools into employment. While digital tools bring flexibility and freedom to employees they also can create an absence of limits, leading to excessive interference in the private lives of employees. Several countries, primarily in Europe, have some form of the right to disconnect included in their law, while in some cases it is present in the policy of many large companies.
France
Origins
The right to disconnect emerged in France in a decision in the Labour Chamber of the French Supreme Court. The decision on 2 October 2001 held that "the employee is under no obligation either to accept working at home or to bring there his files and working tools." In 2004 the Supreme Court affirmed this decision and ruled that "the fact that [the employee] was not reachable on his cell phone outside working hours cannot be considered as misconduct."
El Khomri Law
The government of France passed the El Khomri law to reform working conditions for French people. Article 55 under Chapter II "Adapting the Labour Law to the Digital Age" (Adaptation du droit du travail à l'ère du numérique) included a provision to amend the French Labour Code to include the right to disconnect (le droit de la déconnexion). Article 55(1) amended Article L. 2242-8 of the Labour Code by adding a paragraph (7); "(7) The procedures for the full exercise by the employee of his right to disconnect and the establishment by the company of mechanisms for regulating the use of digital tools, with a view to ensuring respect for rest periods and leave as well as personal and family life. Failing agreement, the employer shall draw up a charter, after consultation with the works council or, failing that, with the staff delegates. This charter defines these procedures for the exercise of the right to disconnect and furthermore provides for the implementation, for employees and management and management personnel, of training and awareness-raising activities on the reasonable use of digital tools.""7° Les modalités du plein exercice par le salarié de son droit à la déconnexion et la mise en place par l'entreprise de dispositifs de régulation de l'utilisation des outils numériques, en vue d'assurer le respect des temps de repos et de congé ainsi que de la vie personnelle et familiale. A défaut d'accord, l'employeur élabore une charte, après avis du comité d'entreprise ou, à défaut, des délégués du personnel. Cette charte définit ces modalités de l'exercice du droit à la déconnexion et prévoit en outre la mise en œuvre, à destination des salariés et du personnel d'encadrement et de direction, d'actions de formation et de sensibilisation à un usage raisonnable des outils numériques" As prescribed in Article 55(2), Article 55(1) entered into force on January 1, 2017.
Context
The government of France adopted the right into its Labour Code in response to a September 2015 report on the impact of digital technologies on labour which supported a right to "professional disconnection." The report was presented to the French Minister of Labour Myriam El Khomri after the previous minister sought information on the effect of digital transformation on Labour. The report recommended such a measure stating that a correct balance between work and private life is essential to allow digital transformation to have a positive effect on workers' quality of life and that knowing how to disconnect was a skill which needs to be supported by employers. The report identified cognitive and emotional overload which can lead to a sense of fatigue as a psycho-social risk of being constantly connected.
The government viewed it necessary to adopt such a law to adapt to the changing nature of the workplace, recognizing that digital technologies have blurred the line between work and private lives. It viewed the introduction of the right to disconnect necessary for the health of French employees.
The introduction of this law followed a 2016 study that discovered that 37% of workers were using professional digital tools (e.g. work mobile phones) outside of work hours and that 62% of workers wanted more controls and rules to regulate this.