Maurice Quinlivan (Limerick City, Sinn Fein) | Oireachtas source

The failure to enshrine a right to disconnect in law is incredibly frustrating and disappointing for workers who are suffering excessive out-of-hours contact. The establishment of a code of practice is a welcome first step, but if an employer ignores or breaches it, that is not an offence. As a result, there is no compellability factor. For some time now, excessive out-of-hours contact has been an issue for workers. The pandemic made this worse. The line between work time and personal time, as the Tánaiste said, has been totally eroded by technological developments that have led to an always-on culture. Workers are contactable and readily available to receive work emails, calls, text and WhatsApp messages and push notifications at every hour of the day, every day of the week. Throughout the pandemic, countless workers have related how they are totally drained and stressed due to employers contacting them late at night or at the weekend to request that tasks be completed immediately. Such situations have had a devastating impact on workers' physical and mental health. The current situation whereby workers are excessively contacted is unfair and unhealthy. This hurts productivity because a worker who is burned out cannot perform to the best of his or her ability. Workers not only deserve a legal right to disconnect, which is protected in law, they absolutely need it.

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