With the spread of remote work and the constant availability made possible by mobile devices, the line between work time and personal time has blurred for many employees. The right to digital disconnection aims to set clear limits on this situation.
What the right to digital disconnection is
It's the right of employees not to have to attend to digital work communications, devices, or tools outside their working hours, ensuring effective respect for their rest time, leave, vacation, and their personal and family privacy.
Why this right exists explicitly
Although conceptually it could be derived from the general rest rights already recognized beforehand, it has been explicitly regulated precisely because digital tools (email, instant messaging, corporate apps) make constant availability possible in a way that, with the more limited communication channels of the past, was much harder to demand in practice.
How companies must implement it
The regulation requires companies, after consulting employee representatives, to draw up an internal policy defining how this right is to be exercised, including training and awareness actions on reasonable use of technological tools to prevent the risk of digital fatigue.
Can your employer force you to respond outside your working hours?
As a general rule, no. Systematically demanding availability and responses outside agreed working hours, without a justified reason (such as a genuine exceptional emergency, or a specific on-call arrangement that is properly paid and agreed, as explained in another article on this blog), would be contrary to this right.
On-call duty isn't simply an exception: it must be properly regulated
As covered in the article on availability allowances, a properly agreed and paid on-call arrangement doesn't violate this right, since it forms part of the agreed working conditions, provided it respects minimum rest limits and doesn't turn into disguised permanent availability outside that agreed framework.
What to do if your company pressures you to always be available
If you notice systematic pressure to respond outside your working hours without a formal on-call arrangement that justifies and compensates for it, it's worth documenting the situation (messages, timing of communications received) and formally raising it with your company, or with employee representatives if there are any, before it becomes a normalized routine practice.
This right protects your time, not directly your salary
Unlike other rights with a direct financial dimension (such as overtime), the right to digital disconnection protects your rest time in itself. Our net salary calculator remains useful, though, for correctly working out any pay tied to availability or on-call duty that does have an agreed financial component.