What is the right to digital disconnection?

Telework is being debated in Latin America. From the Excelsior website they mention that, according to the International Labor Organization, our region is the one with the highest rate of jobs lost since the outbreak of the pandemic, something that arose due to the impossibility or difficulty of restarting the productive system.

This raises different questions related to the future of telework in Latin America. In other words, the paradigm with which we consider labor relations must be renewed, modifying several of the things that we had conceived as "normal", in addition to adapting to new ones.

One of them is the right to digital disconnection outside the workplace. Let's see, then, what this new initiative would consist of and what would be sought to protect the health and comfort of all workers who carry out their activities from home.

The right to digital disconnection

Teleworking is raising new possibilities for workers, but also uncertainty about the legislation to be applied. Although there were already people who fulfilled their obligations from home, the current health situation forced many companies to readjust and modify their production cycles.

It is in this sense that, as the Clarín website proposes, a debate arises: what are the limits of teleworking?

Unlike what would happen when working in an office, where we "forget" about our obligations when leaving it after meeting our hours , here it seems that work is always "at our fingertips". This is argued by the Télam news agency, saying that it is necessary to "regain sovereignty over our free time."

Likewise, this would imply, from Cronista's perspective, new changes in labor rights in times of pandemic, which must be adapted to current circumstances. In other words, the fact of changing the physical work space is not a valid excuse to increase our workload or to believe that we must comply with our obligations all the time.

For example, sending emails to workers outside their hours would be a punishable matter, as they think from Xataka. It is a possibility for employees to define what their tasks are, what time they should do and, of course, what free time they have to enjoy from home.

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We also see that, according to what the CBA24n website indicates, the Argentine Senate is debating the guarantees of the necessary rest for workers who use technological means. This would be related to the protection and the assurance that workers do not have to attend to “digital” obligations in their leisure time or their vacations.

In La Nación Paraguay they highlight that in the country a bill of labor and digital disconnection will be presented, with the objective of being added to article 213 of the Paraguayan Labor Code. In this way, it will seek to improve the quality of life and avoid the imbalances caused by not "meeting the schedule" in person.

Therefore, as noted in the specialized media of Concepción Campos, it is time to “set limits”. While telecommuting provides many tools for employees, such as the ability to meet obligations close to their family and with greater flexibility, it can also create problems.

If we do not have or make it clear which are our moments to work and which to enjoy, we run the risk of being constantly meeting obligations that do not correspond to our contractual relationship. Basically, a form of disguised precariousness that States must attend to to guarantee the health of workers.