The right to disconnect in French law. Effectiveness of the right to rest in the digital age

Abstract

The use of digital tools in the employment relationship blurs the boundaries between work time and personal time. In 2002, an Author theorized the “right to disconnect” as the right “to private life of the 21st century”. The same right has just been recognized by Loi Travail. This legislative provision, however, does not give a definition of the right to disconnect. It refers to company-level collective bargaining (concerning the quality of life at work )or, failing this, to the employer decisions for what concern the rules regarding disconnession. It’s worth distinguishing two aspects: the right to disconnect at work (to solve the problems arising from hyper-connection) and the right to disconnect from work (to guarantee rest periods, leave and personal life). By considering rest periods and personal life, the law establishes the right to disconnect from work and by incorporating this right into the matter of quality of life at work, it establishes as well disconnection at work. The main question is whether the legislative framework is able to reach both these goals. The article highlights some issues concerning especially disconnection from work. The A. discusses the adequacy of the legislative framework, considering that the discipline of disconnection, included in collective bargaining on professional equality and quality of life at work, ends up being not enough co-ordinated with time and workload regulation.

Keywords

• Droit à la déconnexion
• Loi travail
• réglementation du temps de travail
• négociation collective
• pouvoir unilatéral de l’employeur