{"id":60853,"date":"2025-12-06T18:43:38","date_gmt":"2025-12-06T13:13:38","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/?p=60853"},"modified":"2025-12-08T16:28:39","modified_gmt":"2025-12-08T10:58:39","slug":"right-to-disconnect-bill","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/06-12-2025\/right-to-disconnect-bill","title":{"rendered":"Private Member Bill on Right to Disconnect"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>Syllabus: GS2\/Polity<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Context<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>A private member bill \u201c<strong>Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025\u201d, <\/strong>reintroduced in the Lok Sabha.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>What is Right to Disconnect?<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The Right to Disconnect refers to an employee\u2019s right to not engage in work-related communications\u2014such as calls, emails, or messages\u2014outside official working hours.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>It aims to protect workers from excessive digital connectivity and ensure a healthy work\u2013life balance.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Key Features of the Bill<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>The draft legislation proposes <strong>giving workers the legal right to ignore official communication<\/strong> outside designated working hours without facing disciplinary action.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>The Bill mandates following Rights:&nbsp;<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>Right to refuse after-hours calls, messages and emails without repercussions.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li>Setting up an <strong>Employees\u2019 Welfare Authority<\/strong> to implement and monitor the right to disconnect.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>A national baseline study<\/strong> to assess digital communication burdens on employees outside work hours.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Mandatory negotiations<\/strong> between companies with<strong> more than 10 workers<\/strong> and employees\/unions to frame work rules performed beyond office hours, which would qualify for overtime at normal wages.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Counselling services and digital detox centres <\/strong>to be established in coordination with the government.<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Penalties for companies<\/strong> that violate the provisions, up to 1% of their total employee remuneration.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-table\"><table class=\"has-background has-fixed-layout\" style=\"background-color:#ebecf0\"><tbody><tr><td><strong>Do You Know?\u00a0<\/strong><br><br>&#8211; A Private Member\u2019s Bill is a proposal introduced by <strong>MPs who are not ministers.<\/strong><br>&#8211; Parliament debates these only on <strong>Fridays<\/strong>, and they are rarely enacted.\u00a0<br>&#8211; Since Independence, <strong>just 14 Private Members\u2019 Bills have become law,<\/strong> with the most recent passed in <strong>1970<\/strong>.<\/td><\/tr><\/tbody><\/table><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Countries Having the Law<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>Australia <\/strong>recently enacted the laws for the right to disconnect in <strong>2024<\/strong>.\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li>By enacting this law, Australia joined about two dozen other countries, <strong>mainly in Europe and Latin America,<\/strong> that have similar regulations.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>France <\/strong>was one of the pioneers in implementing its right to disconnect in <strong>2017<\/strong>.\u00a0<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Status in India<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\">\n<li><strong>India does not have specific laws<\/strong> recognising the right to disconnect from work.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 38 of the Constitution<\/strong> mandates that \u201cthe State shall strive to promote the welfare of the people\u201d.\u00a0<\/li>\n\n\n\n<li><strong>Article 39(e) of the Directive Principles of State Policy<\/strong> directs the state to direct its policy towards securing the strength and health of its workers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Source: <\/strong><a href=\"https:\/\/indianexpress.com\/article\/political-pulse\/bill-against-after-hour-work-calls-a-look-at-supriya-sules-draft-law-on-right-to-disconnect-10404986\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>IE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Context<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">A private member bill \u201cRight to Disconnect Bill, 2025\u201d, reintroduced in the Lok Sabha.<\/li>\n<p><\/p>\n<p><strong>What is Right to Disconnect?<\/strong><\/p>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">The Right to Disconnect refers to an employee\u2019s right to not engage in work-related communications\u2014such as calls, emails, or messages\u2014outside official working hours.<\/li>\n<li class=\"ms-5\">It aims to protect workers from excessive digital connectivity and ensure a healthy work\u2013life balance.<\/li>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/current-affairs\/06-12-2025\/right-to-disconnect-bill\" class=\"btn btn-primary btn-sm float-end\">Read More<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[21],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-60853","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"acf":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=60853"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60853\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":60892,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/60853\/revisions\/60892"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=60853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=60853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.nextias.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=60853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}