Have you ever had to stay reachable by phone and answer emails and calls after your shift was over? You might feel better by thinking that this happens to a lot of people, which can lead to problems like burnout that are bad for everyone. To protect workers’ “right to disconnect” from their jobs when they’re not on the clock, California wants to pass a new law.
lawmakers in California, laying out a broad “right to disconnect” for workers. Getting this bill passed into law will get rid of the penalties for not taking an employer’s call after shift hours. Both public and private companies will have to make rules that let workers ignore their bosses when they’re not working.
To do this, working and non-working hours will need to be agreed upon in writing. Workers will not have to answer work-related messages after their shift is over, whether it’s through Zoom, texts, calls, or keeping an eye on Slack if they are not being paid to do so. If these hours were broken, the worker could make a complaint with the California Labor Commissioner and get the employer fined.
Employees can agree to stay late and work extra hours if they want to, but this would be written into their contract. If it’s not, the workers shouldn’t feel like they have to be ready all the time. Employers can also set rules about what an emergency call to an off-duty worker should sound like.
If this bill passes, it will help make sure that workers have long-term workflows that don’t lead to burnout all the time. Employees wouldn’t have to feel like they have to be at work all the time, so they could have some kind of work-life balance. We still need to see if enough people agree with the plan for it to become law.
