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Journalism of Courage
In 2018, when Nationalist Congress Party MP Supriya Sule introduced the Right to Disconnect Bill as a private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha, it sparked a conversation about employee well-being and the merging of personal and professional boundaries, especially amid the rise of digital connectivity.
Seven years later, a similar legislation is being mooted in Kerala, a state historically known for its labour-friendly policies.
In September, Dr N Jayaraj, Kerala Congress (M) MLA and Chief Whip in the state Assembly, proposed the Kerala Right to Disconnect Bill, another private member’s bill that seeks to give private sector employees the freedom to ignore after-hours calls, emails and messages without worrying about professional consequences.
The proposal has since stirred debates in online forums and among the very people it hopes to protect. While most people appreciate the intention behind the bill, a common refrain is that unless such a law is implemented nationwide, Kerala is not doing itself any favour, as companies may simply shift out.
Jayaraj says he came up with the bill after realising there is a lot of anxiety among employees. People told him they are burdened by work pressure but unable to speak up because they fear it would be detrimental to their careers.
Corporatisation, he says, has led to the exploitation of human resources. “It is, in a way, a reinvention of the old feudal system. There was no fixed working time for labourers. Then, worldwide, people fought for labour rights and brought about order. The digital revolution has now brought back that feudal era, without us even realising.”
It’s not just anecdotal. India ranks 13th among the world’s most overworked nations, with employees averaging nearly 47 hours a week, according to a 2024 International Labour Organisation report. Another survey by the Confederation of Indian Industry and MediBuddy says that 62 per cent of Indian workers experience burnout, compared to the global average of 20 per cent.
The shift to work-from-home policies during the Covid era further blurred the boundaries between work and personal life.
Countries like France, Portugal, Belgium and Australia have already adopted right-to-disconnect laws. France introduced it in 2017 as part of its labour code. The law requires companies with 50 or more employees to negotiate with unions to create policies that limit digital communication after working hours.
Portugal and Belgium introduced it in 2022. Australia also enacted a similar law in 2024 to protect workers from the increasing pressure to be constantly available and responsive.
The bill proposed by Jayaraj borrows from this spirit. It refers to Article 24 of the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which says, “Everyone has the right to rest and leisure, including reasonable limitation of working hours and periodic holidays with pay.”
Yet support for the bill is far from unanimous.
Critics argue companies could simply relocate their operations to states without such restrictions, playing into Kerala’s long-standing reputation, fairly or not, as industry-unfriendly.
“Kerala established India’s first IT park (Technopark in Thiruvananthapuram in 1990), but we fell behind after that. Other states, such as Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana, and Tamil Nadu, have far outpaced Kerala in creating IT jobs. We should not come up with laws that lead to further driving away industries and loss of jobs,” says S N Raghuchandran Nair, executive committee member, CREDAI, the apex body of private real estate developers in India.
Nair also points to a missing safety net. “We are trying to imbibe a solitary aspect of the Western model, while in reality, we still have a long way to go to reach their levels of prosperity.”
Binu Jacob, Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer of Kerala-based firm Experion Technologies, concurs. “In European countries, social security is there for citizens who do not even have a job. We don’t have that.”
He argues that governments should focus on enabling private investment to drive growth and create more jobs, adding that laws such as right-to-disconnect may do more harm than good to the economy.
Employees agree — mostly.
Renju Krishnan, an assistant systems engineer at an MNC, says working beyond office hours is often unavoidable. “I work in an insurance sector project. We can be called upon at any time, depending on the task’s priority.” As the mother of a young child, she admits she sometimes misses out on quality family time, but “these are all part of the service agreements that we sign up for. As long as there is adequate compensation, we can’t complain.”
Anish Anilkumar, a full-stack engineer, questions the practical efficacy of the law in the real world. “Having a law is one thing, but there should be a culture and ecosystem to support that.”
He shares how one of his former employers addressed the issue of having to call up employees at odd hours. “We created an on-call sheet for rotating employees. There was an additional payment for those hours.”
The strain extends beyond a desk job.
Bittu Joseph, a sales and service executive with a car company, says he routinely takes calls on holidays, answering both managers and customers. “Some people switch off their phones after their working hours. But it is not encouraged generally.”
Even supporters acknowledge the bill’s grey zones. A law may exist, but without a culture of respecting boundaries, it risks becoming another well-meaning but toothless provision.
“I think it works well in some roles but not all,” said Sasank Thaliyil, co-founder of a Kerala-based startup. “If you are working in a well-organised multinational, it can be easily introduced, but it will not work for most startups and small companies.”
As is often the case with debates around industries in a developing country, the clash is philosophical: socialism versus capitalism, free market versus state intervention. For some, the state is a beacon of social progress, while for others, it is a graveyard for business. In the same vein, the Right to Disconnect Bill could be viewed as either a groundbreaking initiative that sets a model for the rest of India or as a setback for industries.
Which lens you choose depends on where you stand.
If nothing else, a conversation has begun. And for Jayaraj, sparking that chatter is a good enough start. “This is an issue the society should discuss. Change may not happen overnight. I’m happy to have provided that spark.”
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