Remote working laws should include the ‘right to disconnect’, say experts

Across the European Union, Ireland had the highest proportion of employees working remotely during the Covid-19 pandemic at 48%, largely due to stricter lockdown measures.

Plans by the Government to draft new laws giving employees the right to ask to work remotely should also include the ‘right to disconnect’, legal experts from Trinity College Dublin have said.

In a new report published on Tuesday, experts from TCD’s Covid-19 Law and Human Rights Observatory, said a new statutory code of practice on the ‘right to disconnect’ introduced earlier this year does not protect employees against the working culture of “constant availability”.