Bill offers workers ‘right to disconnect’
A new bill from San Francisco Assembly Member Matt Haney would clearly outline when companies can communicate with their employees during off hours, following other countries that have passed so-called “right to disconnect” laws.
The bill would require companies to lay out the expected working hours in employment contracts ahead of time. It would also give state labor authorities the power to investigate and fine companies that show a pattern of barging in on their employees’ personal time.
“Work has changed drastically compared to what it was just 10 years ago. Smartphones have blurred the boundaries between work and home life,” Haney said in a statement. “Workers shouldn’t be punished for not being available 24/7 if they’re not being paid for 24 hours of work.”
The bill would make exceptions for emergencies, as well as texts and calls related to lastminute scheduling issues, among other carve-outs.
The California Chamber of Commerce business group on Monday said it was opposed to the bill.
“The bill will effectively subject all employees to a rigid working schedule and prohibit communication between employers and employees absent an emergency,” the chamber said in a letter addressed to Haney from senior policy advocate Ashley Hoffman.
Hoffman said California already has the most stringent labor laws in the U.S. to deter work outside scheduled hours, including overtime pay, meal and rest breaks, and on-call and standby pay.
Haney told the Chronicle that was not the intention of the bill, the idea for which came to him during a recent trip to Europe where similar laws are already in effect.
Countries including France, Australia, Argentina, Italy and others have passed laws to safeguard employees’ personal time.
“We’re simply saying there should be consent around when (people) are working and not,” Haney said. “Not an expectation of 24/7 availability in a contract that they have not agreed to, and that gives people no time where they can expect to be not working.”
Heavily unionized industries in the health care and airlines industries, for example, would likely be the least affected, since their working hours are hashed out at the bargaining table in many cases. The bill specifically allows collective bargaining agreements to take precedence over “right to disconnect” protections.
Other industries with less union penetration, such as technology, would likely see clearer rules ahead of time about when coders would be required to pull all-nighters to ship the latest update, for example.
The mechanism for enforcement would rely on reporting by employees, via complaints made to the California Labor Commissioner Office. Companies could be investigated and potentially see fines issued similar to a wage claim, said Aymara Ledezma, an attorney partner with labor law firm Fisher & Phillips LLP.
She said the bill was, at this early stage, vague on some key points. Those included how the law would affect salaried, exempt employees. And despite the language about emergencies, she said that did not cover every unique situation, like a lawyer responding to a client’s communication off hours, for example.
Hoffman said the bill failed to take into account the different working arrangements of different jobs and industries.
“It would prevent the governor and state agencies from contacting their staff outside of normal work hours, which would lead to basic functions of the state being imperiled,” she added.
Haney pushed back on that. “To say that the functioning of the state is imperiled because we can’t force employees to answer emails all night is alarmist and wrong,” he said. Still, he said he was looking forward to working with the chamber on the bill.
He said the idea is to build in as much flexibility as possible with the input of businesses during the legislative process.
“We’ve crafted it in a way that addresses the recent changes to work brought on by new technology, but to also be pro-California business,” Haney said in the statement. “California businesses will be more competitive for desperately needed workers as a result of this law.”
The bill, AB2751, will be heard in the Assembly Labor Committee in coming weeks.
“We’re simply saying there should be consent around when (people) are working and not.”
San Francisco Assembly Member Matt Haney