Right to Disconnect: Employees May Soon Get the Right to Ignore Work Calls After Office Hours as Bill Introduced in Lok Sabha

Right to Disconnect: “Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for what you will.” This iconic slogan from the 19th-century labour movement laid the foundation for the modern eight-hour workday. However, in today’s hyper-connected digital age, the boundary between work and personal life has blurred significantly. To address this, a significant legislative step has been taken in the Indian Parliament to protect employees from the pressure of being available 24/7.

NCP (SP) MP Supriya Sule introduced a Private Member’s Bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday, proposing that employees should have the right not to respond to work-related calls and emails outside of their designated work hours. This concept is globally known as the “Right to Disconnect.” Sule was joined by Congress MP Shashi Tharoor, who also introduced a Bill aimed at limiting work hours and ensuring mental health support for workers.

Why is the ‘Right to Disconnect’ Necessary?

Supriya Sule’s “Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025” aims to reduce stress and ease the tension between an employee’s personal and professional life. The “Objects and Reasons” of the Bill reference a World Economic Forum report, highlighting the health risks associated with the expectation of round-the-clock availability.

According to the Bill, the constant urge to respond to calls and emails—termed as ‘telepressure’—along with checking work messages on weekends and holidays, destroys work-life balance. Studies cited in the Bill suggest that constant monitoring of work-related messages can overtax the brain, leading to a condition called ‘info-obesity’, as well as sleep deprivation and emotional exhaustion.

Key Proposals of the Bill

The Bill proposes several measures to safeguard employee welfare. The key highlights include:

• Right to Refuse: While employers may contact workers after hours, employees are not obliged to reply. Crucially, they have the right to refuse to answer such calls without facing any disciplinary action.
• Employees’ Welfare Authority: An authority must be established to ensure every employee is conferred with the right to disconnect from work-related communications beyond work hours and on holidays.
• Baseline Study: The Authority is tasked with conducting a baseline study to collect comprehensive data on workers’ usage of digital tools outside work hours.
• Negotiations and Overtime: The Authority shall direct companies with more than 10 workers to negotiate terms for after-hours work with employees or unions. If employees work outside standard hours, they should be entitled to overtime at the normal wage rate.
• Counseling and Detox: The government, in consultation with companies, must provide counseling services to help maintain work-life balance and set up “digital detox centres.”
• Penalty for Non-Compliance: Companies failing to comply with these rules would face a penalty amounting to 1% of the employees’ total remuneration.

Shashi Tharoor’s Amendment and Historical Context

Congress MP Shashi Tharoor also introduced the “Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025.” His Bill seeks to limit work hours, secure the right to disconnect, and establish grievance redressal and mental-health support systems.

Supriya Sule had introduced a similar Bill in 2019, and recently in September, Kerala Congress (M) MLA Dr. N Jayaraj proposed a similar legislation in the Kerala Assembly.

Despite the strong advocacy, passing Private Members’ Bills is notoriously difficult in the Indian Parliament. To date, only 14 such Bills have become law, with the last one receiving parliamentary approval way back in 1970. Nevertheless, the introduction of these Bills brings the critical issue of employee burnout and the need for a ‘Right to Disconnect’ to the forefront of national debate.