The Right to Disconnect Bill proposed by parliamentarian Supriya Sule has raised significant debate on the country’s legislative provisions regarding employees’ work-life balance and overall quality of life through improved mental health and well-being. The introduction of the bill created a national dialogue around these issues. It highlights concerns about employee rights, mental health, and overall workplace culture in an increasingly connected society where everyone is always “on”.
What Does the Right to Disconnect Bill Propose?
The Right to Disconnect Bill proposes a new Employees’ Welfare Authority. Which would be responsible for ensuring that workers can legally disconnect from work outside of their regular hours. Employees are not legally required to answer calls, emails, or other messages that arrive after their workday ends.
The proposed bill, introduced as a means of reducing digital overload and encouraging more healthy workplace culture by protecting the rights of India’s workers from the encroachment of electronic technologies into their personal lives. Sule believes that, as technology continues to blur the lines between work and home life for many individuals, the proposed legislation will allow workers the ability to maintain healthier boundaries between both realms.
The MP proposed two additional Private Members’ Bills:
Paternity and Paternal Benefits Bill (2025) – This will allow fathers to take paid leave for their care of young children.
The Amendments to the Social Security Code (2025) – This will acknowledge gig workers as a different category of workers with the right to earn a fair wage, establish regulated working hours and provide them with social protection.
The Bill has a number of important factors:
- The Employee’s Right to Refuse After-Hours Work
An employee will have the right to refuse any email, call or message from the employer after the regular business hours and not be subject to any penalty for such a refusal.
- The Employees Welfare Authority
The Employees Welfare Authority will be responsible for:
a. Developing guidelines for the communication of employers to employees after regular hours.
b. Monitoring employees’ work patterns in the digital environment, and
c. Conducting a national study to document employee workload and burnout.
- Overtime Negotiations
Employers with more than 10 employees need to negotiate with unions/representatives regarding employee after-hours expectations.
- Mental Health Support
The Bill recommends developing digital detox centres, providing counselling support, and holding workshops to promote a balance between work-time and non-work-time.
- Punishments for breaking the rules
Companies that break any of these rules will face punished with a fine of 1% of the total wage bill for the month in which the violation occurs.
Why India is now having a debate on this issue
India has one of the longest working hours in the world.
According to congressman Shashi Tharoor’s statistics:
51% of Indian workers work over 49 hours a week.
78% of Indian workers have experienced feelings of burnout.
High-profile cases, such as the death of Anna Sebastian Perayil, have sparked calls for reform.
Tharoor has introduced his own bill to amend the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions (OSHWC) Code. Included in this amendment is the concept of a right to disconnect, which allows workers to be able to disconnect from work outside of work hours.
How the rest of the world does it
India is not the only nation to be considering the idea of creating legislation around after-hours work. Other countries have enacted strong legislation to protect an individual’s personal time.
France – The Leader in Right to Disconnect
France was the pioneer in this regard, as it became the first country to have legal protections for the right to disconnect in 2017.
Any company with more than 50 employees is required to negotiate after-hours communication policies with its employees.
Additionally, many companies disconnect their email servers after 6 PM.
In 2018, the Spanish Digital Rights Law gives employees the right to unplug their work devices when not at work – and requires all public and private employers to provide training to their employees on digital disconnection.
Italy has also established regulations around flexible or remote working arrangements that require written agreements to set out the employer and employee’s responsibilities for being ‘available’ after work hours.
Portugal has implemented a ban on contact outside of working hours by employers, with fines applied for employers making contact or sending messages to employees outside of office hours. Companies must also contribute to the costs of increased electricity and internet expenses for their remote workers.
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In Ireland, a national code of practice recognises that:
- Employees have a right not to routinely work outside of their contracted hours; and
- Employees have a right not to suffer consequences for failing to engage in after-hours communications; and
- Employers have a duty to respect their employee’s right to disconnect.
In Ontario, the Right to Disconnect Policy mandates that companies with 25 or more employees be able to produce written policy regarding their expectations for after-hours communication.
These examples clearly illustrate a significant global shift in the conversation regarding personal time and the beginning of similar discussions in India.
Now that there is some momentum building in India for the Right to Disconnect Bill, will it eventually be passed?
The answer to that question may hinge on the fact that it will come before Parliament as a private member’s bill, even though there has been an increase in public support for this proposal.
In India, the following phenomena occurred:
Private Members’ bills are rarely passed into law
Only fifteen Private Members’ Bills passed
For a Private Member’s Bill to turn into law, it is necessary for the Government to create its own version of that bill.
However, with the introduction of this bill, there has been a significant change in this direction. Lawmakers now recognize the need for a proper regulatory framework that addresses issues related to the growing problem of Digital Overwork due to the changes in work culture that have been brought about by Remote Working, Flexible Hours and Digital Communication.
India cannot afford to avoid discussion about this issue
Most Modern Day Workers (especially Younger Workers) are increasingly demanding work related boundaries and Protections.
For so many young appropriately Working Indian’s that juggle the demands of work and personal life, the introduction of the “Right to Disconnect” Bill 2025 identifies the long-existing problem that this country has of the Non-Work Value of an individual’s Life being treated as a matter of choice rather than as a part of the work culture.
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