No After-Work Calls From Managers? All You Need To Know About 'Right To Disconnect Bill 2025'

Lok Sabha member Supriya Sule has introduced a private member's Bill in the Lower House on Friday to promote work-life balance for workers and employees in India.

The Bill, titled "The Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025", seeks to establish an Employees' Welfare Authority and confer the right on every employee to disconnect from work-related telephone calls and e-mails beyond work hours and on holidays.

The Core Principle: A Right to Refuse Contact

The primary goal of the Bill is to address the 'erosion of boundaries between professional and personal life' caused by digital and communication technology, which allows workers to be available 'round the clock', as mentioned in the Bill's Statement of Objects and Reasons.

The Bill grants every employee the right to disconnect 'out-of-work' hours.

What it means: 'Right to disconnect' means that while the employer may contact the worker after work hours, the employee is not obliged to reply or "shall have right to refuse to answer such calls".

If an employee refuses to reply to any call during out-of-work hours, they shall not be subject to any disciplinary action by the employer.

'Out-of-work hours' is defined as the time other than what is mutually agreed upon between the employer and employee in the work contract.

Customised Charters and Mandatory Negotiation

The Bill aims for a flexible approach, recognising the competitive needs and diverse work cultures of different entities. Instead of a one-size-fits-all rule, companies and societies are mandated to negotiate work terms.

Drafting a Customised Charter

• The proposed Employees' Welfare Authority shall direct every individual, company and society with more than ten employees to conduct negotiations with employees, unions, or representatives.
• These negotiations will decide the terms and conditions for working out-of-work hours and the right to disconnect rules and protocols.
• The individual entity shall produce its own Charter detailing the clarification on out-of-work hours and service conditions.
• This Charter must specifically identify, on an individual basis, when an employee can be contacted during out-of-work hours and holidays.
• If an employee is contacted for work-related purposes during time other than that mutually agreed upon in the Charter, they are entitled to the right to disconnect.

Overtime Pay and Default Rules

The Bill also addresses compensation for work done outside the agreed hours:

Overtime Pay: If an employee works during the out-of-work hours that were mutually agreed upon, they "shall be entitled to overtime at the normal wage rate".

In Case of No Agreement: If an agreement on out-of-work hours is not reached, the Charter must explicitly mention the normal out-of-work hours to be followed. During this period, the employee "shall not be obliged to respond and shall have right to disconnect," or "may choose to respond, for which he shall be entitled to get overtime pay".

Key Supporting Mechanisms

To implement and oversee these changes, the Bill provides for several new bodies and functions:

Employees' Welfare Authority

An Employees' Welfare Authority would be constituted to ensure the welfare of employees.

Functions: Its functions include formulating a charter outlining the terms and conditions to be negotiated between employees and employers within one year of its constitution. It will also undertake a baseline study to collect comprehensive data on the usage of digital and communication tools outside work hours.

Composition: The Authority is proposed to be headed by the Minister of State, Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, as the Chairperson ex-officio (by virtue of office).

Digital Detox and Awareness

The Bill acknowledges the adverse effects of 'hyper-connectivity,' such as stress, sleep deprivation, developing, being emotionally exhausted and a condition called 'info-obesity' (overtaxing of the brain from constant monitoring of work-related messages), as mentioned in the Statement of Objects and Reasons of the Bill.

Counselling and Awareness: The appropriate Government shall provide counselling services to help employees maintain work-life balance. Entities must also undertake awareness programmes on the reasonable use of digital tools.

Digital Detox Centres: "The appropriate Government shall set up digital detox centres and provide counselling services to citizens for the reasonable personal use of digital and communication tools".

Employees' Welfare Committees

Every registered company and society shall constitute an Employees' Welfare Committee to assist or represent the employees in the negotiation of out-of-work hours terms and conditions with employers.

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