NCP (SP) Leader Supriya Sule Moves Bill To Ensure Right To Disconnect After Office Hours - What Does It Mean?

The Bill also provides for counselling services to increase awareness among employees and citizens on the reasonable use of digital and communication tools, for professional and personal use.

Lok Sabha member and NCP (SP) leader Supriya Sule has introduced a private member's Bill in the Lower House aimed at promoting work-life balance for workers in India. Titled "The Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025", the legislation seeks to impose sanctions on entities—such as companies or societies—at a rate of 1 per cent of the total remuneration of employees for any non-compliance with its provisions. 

As per ANI, the Bill, as introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday, provides every employee the right to disconnect from work-related electronic communications.

"It aims to foster a better quality of life and a healthier work-life balance by reducing the "burnout caused by today's digital culture," she wrote in a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

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The leader argued in the private member's Bill that while digital and communication technology offer benefits in terms of work flexibility, it also carries a significant risk of disappearing boundaries between professional and personal life.

"Studies have found that if an employee is expected to be available round the clock, they tend to exhibit risks of over-work like sleep deprivation, developing stress and being emotionally exhausted. This persistent urge to respond to calls and emails (termed as 'telepressure'), constant checking of emails throughout the day, and even on weekends and holidays, is reported to have destroyed the work-life balance of employees," the statement of objects and reasons of the Bill read. 

The Bill also argued that there is a need to respect the personal space of the employees by recognising their right to disconnect and not respond to their employer's calls, emails etc., during out-of-work hours.

"The need is also to recognise the rights of the employees, it also takes into consideration the competitive needs of the companies and their diverse work cultures. Flexibility in the right to disconnect rules and leaves it to the individual companies to negotiate terms of service with their employees is need of the hour," the Bill further read.

The digital transformation has a direct impact on conditions in the employment contract, like the time and the place of work.

Hence, if an employee agrees to work during out-of-work hours, overtime pay at the same rate as his wage rate is also necessary to check the surge in unpaid overtime work, brought about by digital transformation, according to ANI, she argued in the Bill.

The Bill also provides for counselling services to increase awareness among employees and citizens on the reasonable use of digital and communication tools, for professional and personal use.

To free an employee from digital distractions and enable him to truly connect with the people around him, the Bill provides for digital detox centres.

(with ANI inputs)