Do you shake every time a notification sounds? Do you finish your day and they send you reminders of what to do the next day or pending? According to law, no, your boss can no longer send you WhatsApp messages outside of your working hours.
Your boss can no longer send you WhatsApp messages outside of your working hours
A bill was approved which regulates the “right to digital disconnection”. This with the aim of respecting the work and rest time of workers.
Why a law that regulates even WhatsApp messages?
Due to the pandemic, the home office has become almost a canon, isolation and working from home have blurred the line between personal and work time. But, in many cases this ‘style’ of work is here to stay, even with its drawbacks.
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With remote communication, instant messaging apps have become vital tools to keep organizations functioning. However, the working hours “shot up exponentially”, thus causing serious effects on the physical and mental health of the employee’s personal and even professional life, according to the Senate of the Republic.
Since 2021, they began to formulate how to regulate it, in order to separate or delimit personal life from employment. Now, there is good news, it has already been approved in 2023.
Digital disconnection?
Those who experienced the job change in person or remotely will have realized that it is very different. For this reason, the new reform approved to the Federal Labor Law was made to article 68, which establishes that “Workers will have the right to digital disconnection in order to be guaranteed (…) respect for their rest time, permits and vacations, as well as their personal and family privacy.”
In addition, it indicates that workers are not required to provide their services for longer than the legal maximum working day.
What does it mean? In other words, neither the company nor the bosses can send you WhatsApp messages, SMS or even emails where they give you directions or reminders outside of working hours. They cannot require you to be available 24 hours a day, nor can they penalize you if you do not answer outside of your working day.
According to what was said by Ricardo Monreal Ávila, from the Chamber of Senators, in 2021, “Pressure to respond to emails, text messages or phone calls amounts to unpaid work and a violation of human rights.”
Consequences of not having digital disconnection that were explored in the home office
- Anxiety
- Depression
- Insomnia
- Syndrome Development burnout
- development of the syndrome bubble worker
- Irritability and bad mood
- Psychological damages
- affect peace of mind
- sight damage
- Demotivation in the workplace
- Headaches and muscle pain
- Reduced work performance
So, it’s time to drop the cell phone and be able to rest.
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