Bosses will have to answer for discriminatory actions against employees who ‘disconnect after work’

Employers will have to justify any actions they take, however miniscule, on employees who refuse requests to work after-hours, when they avail themselves of their right to disconnect. 

Labour MEP Alex Agius Saliba, the rapporteur on a right to disconnect law that was passed earlier this week in the European Parliament, said employers will have to justify any which way they discriminate against workers who avail themselves of this right. 

The Maltese government is already writing up laws to enforce the right to disconnect, which the European Commission and the European Parliament will now be presenting to member states’ leaders to legislate. 

“This law has an important feature,” Agius Saliba said. “It protects employees against employers who prize workers or promote those who do extra work after hours when they would have otherwise availed themselves of their right to disconnect. In this case, if there is a prima facie indication that employers took some action against employees who exercised their right to disconnect, it will be the employer to have to explain that they did not discriminate against the employee.”