In today’s “always-on” work culture, a shift towards prioritizing work-life balance is gaining momentum. This past March, two California leaders supported a bill calling for a 32-hour workweek. This month, California continues to evolve the conversation around the future of work with the introduction of the “right to disconnect.”
Assembly Bill 2751 (AB 2751), introduced by San Francisco’s Assemblymember Matt Haney, proposes a simple idea: allow employees to ignore work-related communications, like calls, emails, and texts from employers, after their workday ends.
If passed into law, this bill would make California the first state in the U.S. to officially protect employees’ right to disconnect from work during their personal time.
This movement isn’t new — The “right to disconnect” was first implemented in France in 2017, requiring companies with over 50 employees to establish rules about after-hours email. Since then, 12 other countries, like Italy, Spain, and Belgium, have adopted similar measures to protect employees’ personal time. Portugal is the most recent country to join this growing initiative, when they passed legislation in 2021 that prohibits employers from contacting employees outside of work hours.
California’s AB 2751 outlines that employers would establish a workplace policy to grant employees this right, defining nonworking hours in a written agreement. The bill allows for certain exceptions, such as emergencies or urgent scheduling changes where contacting an employee may be deemed necessary.
The bill also introduces financial penalties for employers who repeatedly violate employees’ right to disconnect outside of work hours. Specifically, if an employer is found to have violated, or what the bill calls a “pattern of violation,” they could face a fine of at least $100.
California’s recent “right to disconnect” proposal marks a critical moment in the national conversation about the evolving future of work culture. As of now, Assembly Bill 2751 has been referred to the Assembly Labor Committee to be heard.