This summer, new ‘right to disconnect’ legislation came into force in Australia. This new piece of legislation aims at establishing clear boundaries around out-of-hours work communication. Employees may now “refuse to monitor, read, or respond” to their employers’ requests outside of their working hours, unless such requests fall within a “reasonable” timeframe.
In France, an employee’s « right to disconnect », was introduced into the law in 2016.
Since 2016, agreements establishing individual work schedules in days over the year must specify the terms under which employees can exercise their right to disconnect. In the absence of such provisions in collective agreements, these terms are determined by the individual working-time-in-days agreement (Article L. 3121-64 of the French Labor Code).
Furthermore, since January 1, 2017, the “right to disconnect” must be addressed during the annual negotiations on professional equality between women and men, and on quality of life and working conditions. In this context, the agreement must implement “measures to regulate the use of digital tools to ensure effective rest periods, leave, and personal and family life” (Article L. 2242-17 of the French Labor Code).
In the absence of a collective agreement on the right to disconnect, and if no collective agreement excludes this subject from mandatory negotiations on professional equality and quality of life at work, the employer must draft a charter following consultation with the Social and Economic Committee. This charter defines the terms for exercising the right to disconnect and additionally provides for training and awareness initiatives aimed at employees, managers, and executives on the reasonable use of digital tools (Article L. 2242-17, of the French Labor Code).
The implementation of a right to disconnect is an important measure for the employer as it demonstrates, particularly in the event of a dispute, that a tool was established to prevent any workload overload.