INTRODUCTION
What if where you live had nothing to do with where you work? That’s not a far-off idea anymore since it’s already happening, and it’s only going to grow. Digital jobs that can be done from literally anywhere are on the rise. According to a report by the World Economic Forum, by 2030, these remote-friendly global digital jobs will grow by around 25%, crossing 90 million roles worldwide. [1]
If work can now follow you everywhere, shouldn’t the law follow too? The case that overwork is a genuine problem isn’t really up for debate anymore. The WHO classified burnout as an occupational phenomenon in ICD-11. [2] Nearly 60% of India’s working-age adults show signs of burnout.[3] Even employers don’t dispute this; Deloitte’s survey found that poor mental health among employees costs Indian employers an estimated ₹1.1 lakh crore per year. [4] So, if both sides broadly agree that overwork is real and worsening, the obvious next question is why India still hasn’t managed to legislate against it.
India has tried to answer that question before, three times, in fact. Each time, it has failed to become law. The central question now is, if almost everyone agrees that overwork is a problem, why can’t India pass a law to fix it, and is this third attempt actually any different?
WHAT IS THE “RIGHT TO DISCONNECT”?
The clearest legal definition of this right comes from Australia, where the Fair Work Act now states that an employee may refuse to monitor, read, or respond to contact from an employer outside their working hours, unless that refusal is unreasonable. [5] Basically, it’s the right to not be “on call” simply because technology makes it possible, without facing any negative consequences. That could mean a performance dip on a review, a passive-aggressive comment from a manager, or even termination in extreme cases, none of which would be allowed if this right is legally protected. It doesn’t mean employees can never be contacted after hours, or that emergencies don’t exist. What it does mean is that responding becomes optional rather than an implicit expectation.
THE BILL THAT KEEPS COMING BACK
Sule first introduced the Right to Disconnect Bill in 2018 as a private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha, with the bill text dated 22 November 2018 and formally introduced shortly after.[6] It proposed that companies with more than 10 employees were required to negotiate terms with employees, publish a charter, mandate Employees’ Welfare Committees, and provide for counselling services.[7] Non-compliance results in a penalty of 1% of an entity’s total employee remuneration. [8]
She reintroduced an almost identical version on 3 December 2021.[9] It suffered the same fate of lapsing without discussion.
On 5 December 2025, Sule presented the Right to Disconnect Bill 2025.[10] The substance didn’t change dramatically between the 2018 and 2021 versions. [11] What did change, though, was the context and timing. It came back at a moment when people were actually paying attention, after Anna Sebastian Perayil’s death made overwork impossible to ignore.[12]
WHY IT KEEPS DYING
The Right to Disconnect Bill is a Private Member’s Bill, introduced by a Member of Parliament who is not part of the Council of Ministers. Such bills rarely become law in India, as they are often debated, withdrawn, or fail to progress after the government responds to them.[13] Since 1952, only 14 of them have.[14] The last one to actually pass was the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Bill, way back in 1968.[15] That’s over fifty years without a single private member’s bill being passed. So even a well-drafted, widely supported bill like this one is, structurally, facing long odds before Parliament debates it.
Moreover, legal commentators have also pointed out that the bill doesn’t carve out exceptions for sectors like IT, healthcare, or media, where round-the-clock availability is sort of part and parcel of the job.[16] Nobody agrees on what “working hours” should even mean, as it varies wildly across professions. IT employees in India are already clocking an average of 45 to 50 hours a week, well past the standard of 40.[17] That’s why any “right to disconnect” law that tries to apply one standard across every profession is going to run into trouble almost immediately.
There’s also the employer’s side of this. In a country full of fast-growing startups, there’s constant pressure to do more, faster, just to stay competitive. India is also a developing economy, still trying to catch up; working extra hours feels less like a choice and more like something you just have to do to stay competitive. [18]
Compare this to how Australia actually got its right to disconnect passed. It came as part of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024.[19] The difference was that Australia’s proposal had government support behind it. In India, the Right to Disconnect Bill has largely depended on one MP repeatedly introducing it, which makes passing it a much tougher task.
WHICH MODEL ACTUALLY FITS INDIA?
If you look at how different countries have handled this, there’s a spectrum. France just makes companies talk about it. Just negotiate a charter every year, but if they don’t actually agree on anything, there’s no penalty.[20] It sounds progressive on paper, but in the long run, it’s a bit ineffective.
Then there’s Portugal, where employers can be fined up to roughly €9,690 (₹10,40,000 approx.) per violation for contacting staff after hours.[21] In Australia, this right got folded into a much bigger labour reform package, which is partly why it actually has real enforcement behind it.[22]
So, what we have are three different approaches. France focuses on discussion and workplace agreements; Portugal uses penalties to enforce compliance; and Australia has introduced stronger legal protections. However, the real question is whether a Private Member’s Bill can realistically achieve any of these. It is unlikely that the Right to Disconnect Bill would lead to anything like Portugal’s strict enforcement mechanisms or Australia’s major legislative reforms. At best, it might end up looking like France’s model, being well-intentioned, but without much effect.
PROTECTION FOR SOME, NOT ALL
Every version of this bill from 2018 to 2025 is written for a traditional idea of an “employee.” Someone with a fixed employer, a contract, and set working hours. But that’s not how a huge chunk of India actually works anymore. Your Swiggy delivery guy, Urban Company technician, and Uber driver, none of them fit into that box. They don’t have an “employer” in the legal sense, they don’t have fixed hours, and they don’t have any right to disconnect, because the bill was never written with them in mind.
What’s noteworthy is that the same week Supriya Sule introduced the Right to Disconnect Bill, she also introduced the Code on Social Security (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which is specifically about classifying platform-based gig workers as their own legal category, with things like minimum wages and regulated hours.[23] So even if the Right to Disconnect Bill somehow passes, gig workers would still be left out unless this companion bill also gets through.
It’s also worth mentioning that the day before, Congress MP Shashi Tharoor introduced his own private member’s bill on the same broad issue. He proposed amending the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020, to limit working hours, legally protect the right to disconnect and introduce stronger mental-health safeguards. [24] So, this wasn’t just one MP raising the issue. Multiple MPs did so in the same week, showing how widespread the concern has become, even if Parliament still hasn’t done anything concrete about it.
Interestingly, the gig worker side of this story is actually moving faster than the right to disconnect itself. On 30 December 2025, the government notified draft Social Security Rules for gig workers under the existing Code on Social Security, 2020.[25] These rules would require platforms like Swiggy, Zomato, and Blinkit to register their workers and contribute to a dedicated social security fund, opening up access to things like accident insurance, health coverage, and old-age pensions.[26] But it is important to note here that it was not as a private member’s bill, but as an actual government rule.
CONCLUSION
Now, where does this actually leave us? Not at “should India have a right to disconnect”, because that’s been asked and answered plenty already. The real issue is whether this proposal can move beyond being just another idea on paper. While the 2025 Bill raises important concerns about work-life balance, until there is government backing or some kind of buy-in from industry, the proposal is likely to remain more of a policy discussion than a legal reality.
If change is actually going to come, it’s more likely to come from somewhere else entirely, maybe through courts reading the right to rest into Article 21, the way they’ve already done with other workplace dignity issues, or through amendments to existing labour codes that don’t need a standalone bill to survive on its own.
Author(s) Name: Tabitha Koshy (Tamil Nadu National Law University)
References:
[1] World Economic Forum, The Rise of Global Digital Jobs (World Economic Forum, 2024) 4 < https://www3.weforum.org/docs/WEF_The_Rise_of_Global_Digital_Jobs_2024.pdf > accessed 23 June 2026.
[2] ‘Burn-out an “Occupational Phenomenon”: International Classification of Diseases’ (World Health Organisation) <https://www.who.int/news/item/28-05-2019-burn-out-an-occupational-phenomenon-international-classification-of-diseases > accessed 22 June 2026
[3] “India’s Corporate Burnout Crisis: A Wake-Up Call for Workplace Mental Health Reform” Dainik Jagran English (29 October 2025)< https://english.dainikjagranmpcg.com/opinion/indias-corporate-burnout-crisis-a-wake-up-call-for-workplace-mental/article-6965> accessed 25 June 2026.
[4] Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India LLP, Mental Health and Well-Being in the Workplace (Deloitte, September 2022) 33 < https://www.deloitte.com/content/dam/assets-shared/legacy/docs/perspectives/2022/gx-mental-health-2022-report-noexp.pdf > accessed 24 June 2026.
[5] Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) s 333M(1).
[6]The Right to Disconnect Bill, 2018, Bill No 211 of 2018 (Lok Sabha) https://supriyassule.in/media/acfupload/211_of_2018_Disconnect.pdf accessed 23 June 2026.
[7] ibid, ss 3, 8, 12, 17, 18.
[8] ibid, s 19.
[9] Jog S, ‘NCP MP Supriya Sule Moves Right to Disconnect Bill for Second Time in Lok Sabha; Watch Video’ (Free Press Journal) <https://www.freepressjournal.in/india/ncp-mp-supriya-sule-moves-right-to-disconnect-bill-for-second-time-in-lok-sabha-watch-video > accessed 23 June 2026.
[10] The Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025 (introduced by Supriya Sule, Lok Sabha, 5 December 2025).
[11] ‘Right to Disconnect Bill 2025 Tabled in Lok Sabha: Will India Move towards Better Work-Life Balance?’ (SCC Online) < https://www.scconline.com/blog/post/2025/12/10/right-to-disconnect-bill-2025/> accessed 24 June 2026.
[12] Mollan C, ‘Anna Sebastian Perayil: Death of Indian Employee Sparks Debate on “Toxic Work Culture”’ (BBC) < https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c0kjgp4jr5yo> accessed 23 June 2026
[13] ‘MSN’ (MSN) < https://www.msn.com/en-in/lifestyle/smart-living/right-to-disconnect-bill-2025-no-calls-emails-after-office-when-it-will-become-a-law-why-it-has-spared-work-life-balance-debate-explained/ar-AA1RSfG0 > accessed 24 June 2026
[14] Rohit Kumar, Vital Stats: Private Members’ Bills in Lok Sabha (PRS Legislative Research, 8 February 2010) < https://prsindia.org/files/parliament/vital_stats/1265629223–Vital%20Stats%20-%20Private%20Member%20Bills%2021Jan2010%20v02.pdf > accessed 25 June 2026.
[15] Ibid.
[16] Lexology, “Explained: India’s Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025 and what it means for employees” (16 December 2025) < https://www.lexology.com/library/detail.aspx?g=8cefe434-a277-49a2-8869-77e85dbba897> accessed 23 June 2026.
[17] Sneha Philip, “Indian IT Employees Compelled to Work 50 Hours per Week, Reveals Study” People Matters (21 November 2023) < https://www.peoplematters.in/news/economy-policy/it-employees-compelled-to-work-50-hours-per-week-reveals-study-39521 > accessed 25 June 2026.
[18] Jain H, ‘The Right to Disconnect: Balancing Work and Well-Being in the Digital Age – NLIU Law Review’ (NLIU Law Review) <https://nliulawreview.nliu.ac.in/blog/the-right-to-disconnect-balancing-work-and-well-being-in-the-digital-age/ accessed 24 June 2026
[19] Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No 2) Act 2024 (Cth).
[20] Loi Travail (Law No 2016-1088) (France).
[21] Law No 83/2021 of 6 December 2021 (Portugal), amending art 199-A of the Portuguese Labour Code; see also “Sleep Mode: The Right to Disconnect in Europe and in Portugal” (Bridge In) < https://www.bridgein.pt/blog/sleep-mode-the-right-to-disconnect-in-europe-and-in-portugal> accessed 23 June 2026.
[22] Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No 2) Act 2024 (Cth).
[23] Code on Social Security (Amendment) Bill, 2025 (introduced by Supriya Sule, Lok Sabha, 5 December 2025); see also Asianet Newsable, “Explained: What Supriya Sule’s ‘Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025’ Means for Every Employee” (6 December 2025) <https://newsable.asianetnews.com/india/explained-supriya-sule-right-to-disconnect-bill-2025-means-for-every-employee-articleshow-gqrdsa0/> accessed 25 June 2026.
[24] [Bill to amend the Occupational Safety, Health and Working Conditions Code, 2020] (introduced by Shashi Tharoor, Lok Sabha, 4 December 2025); see also India TV News, “Right to Disconnect Bill explained: What is it and its chances of becoming law” (7 December 2025) < https://www.indiatvnews.com/explainers/right-to-disconnect-bill-explained-what-is-it-and-its-chances-of-becoming-law-and-be-passed-in-parliament-2025-12-07-1020601/ > accessed 24 June 2026.
[25] Code on Social Security (Central) Rules, 2025 (Draft), Ministry of Labour and Employment, Government of India, notified 30 December 2025.
[26] New Kerala, “India’s Draft Social Security Rules for Gig Workers Hailed as Milestone” (4 January 2026) < https://www.newkerala.com/news/a/aaps-raghav-chadha-hails-centres-draft-social-security-301.htm> accessed 26 June 2026.