A private member's bill, which relates not to entertain calls and emails outside working hours, was introduced in the Lok Sabha on Friday during the Winter Session. The bill, named 'Right to Disconnect 2025', was introduced by NCP MP Supriya Sule.
It proposes to establish an employees' welfare authority to confer the right on every employee to disconnect from work-related telephone calls and emails beyond office hours and on holidays. It gives the employees the right to refuse to answer calls and emails outside working hours and for all matters connected therewith.
Sule introduces Paternity and Paternal Benefits and Code of Social Security Bills
Meanwhile, the NCP MP introduced two more bills to the lower house: the Paternity and Paternal Benefits Bill 2025 and the Code on Social Security Bill 2025. "The Paternity and Paternal Benefits Bill, 2025, introduces paid paternal leave to ensure fathers have the legal right to take part in their child's early development. It breaks the traditional model, supports the new mother's well-being, and promotes flexible parenting," Sule wrote on her social media platform X.
"The second bill, the Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025, provides every employee the right to disconnect from work-related electronic communications. It fosters a better quality of life and a healthier work-life balance by reducing the burnout caused by today's digital culture.
"And finally, the Code on Social Security (Amendment) Bill, 2025, recognises platform-based gig workers as a distinct category, ensuring minimum wages, regulated hours, social security, fair conditions, and equitable contracts to ensure a fairer, more sustainable environment and economy for them," she added.
What does the Bill state?
Coming back to the Right to Disconnect Bill, the Bill states that the "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."
It adds, "According to a study, the constant monitoring of work-related messages and emails may overtax employees' brains, leading to a condition called 'info-obesity'."
"The need is also to recognise the rights of the employees, which 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 the need of the hour," the Bill further read.
The digital transformation directly affects employment contract conditions, including working hours and work location. Therefore, if an employee agrees to work outside regular hours, they should receive overtime pay at their normal wage rate. This measure, she argued in the Bill, is necessary to curb the rise in unpaid overtime driven by digital transformation.
