Matt Haney, a Democratic congressman from San Francisco, has a thread with a group of childhood friends. One works in biotechnology/bioscience, one works in film media, and one has a job in the fitness industry.
Earlier this year, Haney told me, one of them shared a link to an article about a new law in Australia that gives workers the right to “unplug,” that is, ‘Avoid responding just once to most of the bosses’ pesky texts, emails, and phone calls. the working day ends.
“My friends are all starting to say that they think the work-life balance is horrible and that people don’t have time to disconnect,” Haney, 41, said Monday. “Especially since the pandemic, I think the situation has gotten worse. The growing number of people doing remote work has further blurred the lines between when people are at work and outside of work.
Opinion columnist
Robin Abcarian
Imagine: you finish your work day at 6 p.m. and when the boss slows you down at 8 p.m., you ignore it. Or you enjoy your free time on Saturday morning and when the boss texts you, you ignore it. The beauty part? Unless it’s a scheduling issue or a true work emergency, there’s nothing your boss can do about it.
Crazy idea, right?
Not really. It turns out that Australians aren’t the only ones writing the idea of a better work-life balance into law. At least a dozen other countries have adopted similar practices, including Italy, Belgium, Ireland, Spain and Portugal. In France, we call it “the right to disconnect.” In the United Kingdom, the Labor Party adopted the “right to disconnect” or “right to rest” as part of its “New Deal for Workers”. In 2022, Ontario became the first Canadian province to grant workers the right to disconnect.
“Work has changed dramatically from what it was just 10 years ago,” Haney said in a statement announcing Assembly Bill 2751 on April 1. “Smartphones have blurred the lines between work and private life. Workers should not be punished for not being available 24/7 if they are not paid for 24 hours of work. People need to be able to spend time with their families without being constantly interrupted at the dinner table or at their children’s birthday party, without worrying about their phones and answering work.
His bill, which will be presented to the Assembly Labor and Employment Committee in the coming weeks, would require a public or private employer to “establish a workplace policy that grants employees the right to disconnect from employer communications during non-working hours, except in the following cases.” specified.” Employment contracts should clearly define working and rest hours.
This would not apply to workers who have entered into collective agreements.
Companies that routinely violate the law could face fines, Haney said, but the main idea is to let employees know what to expect from their jobs. Conditions may be subject to negotiation. For example, Haney said, “Some people would like to log out between 7 p.m. and 10 p.m., and once their kids are asleep, they can easily log in.” »
The increasingly blurred boundaries between work and play are not a new problem in our digitalized and overly connected world. Academic journals are full of articles on the negative effects of working 24/7. Even before the pandemic, which changed the working practices of millions of people starting in 2020, the question was topical.
In 2016, a study by a Lehigh University researcher discovered a link between “organizational expectations for after-hours email,” that is, anticipatory stress and emotional exhaustion. “The results,” it says, “suggest that modern technologies in the workplace may harm the very employees for whom these technologies were designed.”
In a 2019 article in the Notre Dame Journal of International and Comparative Law, employment lawyer and former Marquette University law professor Paul Secunda wrote that “work is not only done at home, but also in transit and on vacation. The result has been a loss of privacy and autonomy, leading to a negative impact on safety and health, a consequent loss of productivity and a lack of time for leisure or recreational activities alone or with family and the friends. Employees need to disconnect to find an appropriate work-life balance.
Some pointed out to Haney that lawmakers are among the worst offenders when it comes to requiring employees to work after hours. In its headline about Haney’s bill, Politico quipped: “The call comes from inside the House.” »
Haney understands that. He co-authored a bill that would allow California legislative staff to unionize, which is expected to happen within about a year, and he changed his own expectations for his staff. Since drafting the bill, he told the New York Times, he has tried to refrain from calling employees after hours and on weekends.
“Unless it’s an emergency,” he said. “I became much more aware of it.”
Understandably, business groups aren’t thrilled with Haney’s proposal. The California Chamber of Commerce opposes this, particularly for so-called exempt employees who are salaried and are not covered by laws governing overtime and mandatory breaks.
Conservative outlets like Fox News and the Wall Street Journal pounced: “Progressive ideas that originate in Sacramento have a history of becoming dominant within the Democratic Party,” the Journal said. “Too bad there’s no way for the rest of the country to disconnect from California’s unreal politics.”
To which Haney responds: “Isn’t family time one of the most fundamental American values? This is a very conservative idea in many ways. Do you come home and sit with your family and your phone won’t stop ringing? This is not the American dream.
Indeed. For many workers, the familiar “brush stroke” sound announcing the arrival of a new Slack message after hours is more of a nightmare. Haney’s bill would provide workers with much-needed, albeit metaphorical, earmuffs.
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