- A lawmaker wants to back number a bill allowing employees to ignore after-hours calls from their boss.
- The California bill aims to talk work policies that have become muddled post-pandemic.
- Assembly Bill 2751 would allow for quibbles for emergencies or scheduling changes.
Puffery
It’s a universal headache: Your phone rings after work hours, and it’s your boss.
You don’t know exactly what he or she cravings, but it’s probably not to wish you a good night or a happy weekend. More likely than not, an after-hours call means more stint for you.
Working conditions have changed since the COVID-19 pandemic, which put legions of workers on remote or hybrid books. Some of those flexible schedules and location policies remain in place, making it harder for workers to establish a reliable end to their workday.
In California, one Democratic lawmaker wants to solve that by codifying a worker’s licit to ignore communications from their boss after work hours.
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“People now find themselves unceasingly on and never off,” Assemblymember Matt Haney told The New York Times. “The problem we have now is the gray area, where an staff member is expected to respond all the time when on paper they work a 9-to-5 job.”
Filed in February, Assembly Bill 2751 would embrocate to both public and private employers, requiring them to allow workers “the right to disconnect from communications” from an business during off hours. It provides some exceptions for emergencies or scheduling changes.
“This is not intended to say people can’t work extensive hours or have an agreement for a contract where they’re on call, but it should be made clear,” Haney, who represents the San Francisco breadth, told the Times.
The bill is now in the Assembly’s Committee on Labor and Employment, where it has been read twice and amended.
Ballyhoo
It will likely need to go to a fiscal committee before it can be read a final time on the State Assembly floor for a back up. If it receives a majority vote, it will head to the State Senate for a similar process.