Will US tech workers get the right to disconnect?

The tech industry is known for its culture of long working days and employees putting in extra hours, either to get a project completed or because they’re collaborating with colleagues in another time zone.

The last thing tech workers want after logging out for the evening is to have to take a phone call or respond to an email about a non-urgent matter that could have waited until they’re in the office the next day.

This is why there are arguments for the US to adopt ‘right to disconnect’ legislation that would make it illegal for employers to contact their employees outside of working hours.

According to Tech.co's Impact of Technology on the Workplace Report 2025, 83% of employees feel obligated to respond to work-related emails and calls even when on holiday. The survey of 1,036 US-based senior leaders at companies with at least 10 employees found that 72% of senior leaders in the tech industry support the 'right to disconnect’ law, while 14% are against and the other 14% are on the fence.

So is the US likely to adopt a law like this any time soon? And how could it look to international examples for benefits and drawbacks?

How other countries have approached the issue

Different countries have taken different approaches to the ‘right to disconnect’.

Since 2017, companies in France with a headcount of at least 50 are required to draw up a charter in conjunction with union representatives setting out the hours that workers don’t have to send or respond to emails.

France is currently one of ten EU states that have introduced legislation. The others are Belgium, Croatia, Cyprus, Greece, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Slovakia and Spain.

Australia adopted legislation last year that allows employees at companies with a headcount of at least 15 to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact outside of working hours without fear of being punished. The onus is on employers to discuss with their workers what constitutes a reasonable refusal, according to the Fair Work Ombudsman, Australia’s workplace regulator.

Failure to comply with these laws can lead to sizable fines, though the severity of the penalty varies country to country.

On the other hand, Ireland adopted a code of practice in 2021 that encourages employers to engage with employees on how they can disconnect in conjunction with union representatives. The code is voluntary, not statutory, though, so there’s no legal requirement, and, as such, there are no penalties for companies that don’t adopt it.

The UK is also weighing up whether to introduce legislation. The Labour government has pledged to introduce a ‘right to switch off’ law where “working from home does not become homes turning into 24/7 offices”. This is backed by the Trades Union Congress, which highlighted the need for the 'statutory right to disconnect’ in its draft AI Bill published in April last year.

The reality of the US implementing legislation

California, known for its progressive politics, became the first US state to push for the ‘right to disconnect’ to be enshrined into law last year. But a bill that would have required employers to create boundaries for their workers was shelved last May.

The problem is labor laws in Europe have tended to focus on protecting workers, whereas US labor laws are more about protecting employer flexibility, Kelsey Szamet, partner at California-based employment law firm Kingsley Szamet Employment Lawyers, tells ITPro.

The US has also entered a period of deregulation across a number of industries, so it’s unlikely that the ‘right to disconnect’ will be legalized at the federal level during the current presidency.

If the US were to eventually adopt legislation, then the main takeaway from how other countries have implemented the ‘right to disconnect’, continues Szamet, is the need for explicit boundaries and to ensure sanctions are enforced on any company that fails to comply.

“There are some that will attempt to circumvent them by employing broad loopholes and ambiguous job definitions, such as labeling employees ‘exempt’ from overtime law,” she says. Tech workers, especially those at young, fast-paced startups that operate on a tight budget, may be considered ‘exempt employees’, meaning they’re not eligible for overtime pay as set out under the Fair Labor Standards Act.

To reduce resistance to the ‘right to disconnect’, there’s going to need to be a huge culture change.

“Countries like France and Belgium have made it clear that protecting personal time isn’t a luxury; it's essential to sustaining a healthy workforce. Implementing similar protections in the US would challenge existing norms, but it’s not impossible,” says Greg Davis, CEO at Oregon-based cloud connectivity firm Bigleaf Networks.

Davis suggests one way companies can prepare for future legislation is by giving employees structured time to disconnect.

Szamet agrees with this sentiment, adding that the next best thing until legislation is passed is unionization and companies voluntarily introducing corporate policies that support employees to switch off once their working day is over.

“This would allow workers to set reasonable boundaries without waiting for lawmakers to catch up,” she concludes.