Right to Disconnect: Definition, Obligations and Implementation in the Workplace
02 December 2025 · 5 min reading time
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See job offersThe right to disconnect has emerged as a major issue in the world of work. With digital tools, instant communication, and the massive rise of remote work, the boundaries between private life and professional obligations have become significantly blurred. Many employees remain reachable beyond their working hours, sometimes without even realising it.
To avoid this constant availability, the Labour Code requires employers to ensure real rest periods and reasonable use of digital tools.
The key question then becomes: how can we concretely protect the right to disconnect while maintaining an efficient organisation?
What is the right to disconnect?
The right to disconnect aims to allow every employee to step away from the professional flow when they are no longer within their working hours. The goal is not to ban digital tools, but to prevent them from creating an implicit obligation to respond at any moment.
An employee must be able to switch off their work phone, close their mailbox, or ignore a late request without it impacting their evaluation, progression, or relationship with their manager.
It is an individual right, enshrined in law, which protects periods of rest and recovery.
For the company, this means organising the use of digital tools so that their functioning remains compatible with rest times and personal life.
Legal origins of the right to disconnect
The Labour Law of 8 August 2016 introduced into the Labour Code the obligation for employers to protect work-life balance. Since 1 January 2017, the right to disconnect has been part of the mandatory annual negotiation on quality of life and working conditions (QVCT).
The legal framework does not precisely define the measures to be taken. It imposes an outcome: prevent hyperconnection and preserve employees’ health. Companies must therefore build a relevant and tailored system adapted to their practices.
Who is concerned by the right to disconnect?
This right applies to all employees, regardless of their contract or status: permanent, fixed-term, temporary workers, apprentices… As soon as a worker uses digital tools for their duties, they must be able to benefit from periods where no professional request is addressed to them.
However, some roles are more exposed due to their pace or autonomy, senior managers, mobile roles, or employees under a “forfait-jours” system. These employees have a high degree of organisational freedom; they are therefore particularly concerned and require a clear framework to avoid overload.
The specific case of “forfait-jours” employees
The “forfait-jours” system relies on autonomy, flexibility, and personal time management. This organisation can sometimes lead to scattered hours or repeated late-night connections.
To secure these practices, employers must implement:
- regular monitoring of workload,
- individual meetings to verify compliance with rest periods,
- clear rules regarding communication hours.
These measures ensure that the freedom offered by the “forfait-jours” system does not turn into excessive workload.
Employer obligations
Ensuring the right to disconnect is not optional. The Labour Code requires employers to preserve the physical and mental health of employees, which includes preventing risks associated with excessive use of digital tools.
To comply with this obligation, the company must define a clear framework: adapted usage rules, consistent communication hours, clear emergency procedures, and, when necessary, delayed message sending.
This process must be accompanied by real prevention actions: raising awareness, explaining risks, training managers, and ensuring everyone understands the challenges of disconnection.
The company must also monitor the effectiveness of these measures over time: observe practices, listen to employee feedback, and adjust when necessary.
The goal is not excessive restriction, but to provide a balanced environment where everyone can truly disconnect outside working hours.
Companies with more than 50 employees: a negotiation obligation
In companies with more than 50 employees, the right to disconnect must be discussed annually as part of QVCT negotiations. This discussion helps define how digital tools are used and how to prevent professional communication from spilling onto rest periods.
When no agreement is reached, the employer must draft a charter after consulting the Works Council (CSE). This document outlines rules for digital tool usage, specifies times when communication should be limited, and details planned actions for raising awareness.
The goal remains the same: to provide a clear and protective framework, especially in organisations with high responsibilities and continuous communication.
##Collective agreement or charter: what’s the difference?
The collective agreement
It is negotiated between the employer and employee representatives. It is the most robust solution, as it reflects real working conditions and benefits from strong internal support. It may define detailed rules: emergency management, message restrictions, alert mechanisms…
The charter
It is drafted by the employer when no agreement is reached. Although unilateral, it must be coherent, operational, and shared with all teams.
Regardless of the format, the goal is the same: regulate digital use to preserve quality of life at work.
How to implement the right to disconnect in a company?
An effective system relies on three key steps:
Analyse existing practices
Identify situations that generate excessive availability: late hours, urgency culture, team organisation, informal habits…
Define adapted rules
They must align with the company’s needs: communication hours, absence management, meetings, notifications, scheduled messages…
Tools can help (do-not-disturb modes, delayed messages, smartphone settings).
Communicate and support
Effectiveness depends on employees understanding the rules. Support tools (training, internal guides, team meetings) help build lasting habits.
Regular monitoring is essential to adapt the system over time.
Right to disconnect and remote work
Remote work makes the separation between personal and professional spheres more difficult. Digital tools used at home facilitate collaboration but may cause frequent interruptions and late requests.
To preserve balance, companies can:
- set communication windows,
- limit end-of-day meetings,
- encourage disabling notifications during certain periods,
- remind teams of required rest periods.
Managers play a crucial role: a manager who respects hours and applies the rules sends a clear signal to their team.
What are the risks for employers who fail to respect the right to disconnect?
When a company fails to respect the right to disconnect, it faces several types of sanctions. Beyond impacts on morale or mental load, it is above all the employer’s legal obligations that come into play.
Legal risks
Failure to respect this right may be considered a breach of the employer’s safety obligation. An employee may take the matter to the labour court, and the judge may award damages, recognise certain requests as overtime, or compensate for violations of rest periods.
Social and managerial risks
A work environment where employees are permanently reachable eventually destabilises the organisation. Fatigue, irritability, loss of motivation or increased turnover directly impact overall performance and can weaken the company.
Organisational risks
A “always connected” culture inevitably leads to a decline in long-term productivity. Employees disconnect less, recover less, and this can create internal tensions, errors, and a deterioration in work quality.
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