Under the new law in California, you can be fined for contacting your boss after hours.
A bill proposed by San Francisco Assemblyman Matt Haney would be the first in the country to give employees the legal right to ignore non-emergency calls and emails after the work day.
If the bill becomes law, any employer who violates it could be fined at least $100.
Haney, a Democrat, told CNBC Make It that he was inspired by Australia’s new “right to divest” plan to be implemented later this year. The bill prohibits employees from answering calls or messages from their bosses during personal time, and imposes fines on employers who break the rules.
At least 10 countries, including France, Canada, and Portugal, have laws supporting the “right to organize” workers. New York City considered a similar proposal in 2018 but rejected it.
The bill must go through a series of approvals before reaching the governor, who has until September to sign it into law, but if approved, it will take effect in January.
Haney’s bill would require employers to set their own hours and the right to ignore off-hours communications, requiring days off unless there is an emergency or a change in planning that will affect the next 24 HOURS.
The draft language defines an emergency worker as an unexpected event that threatens customers or the public, disrupts or closes operations, or causes “physical or environmental damage.”
If the boss violates this agreement three times, the employee can report it to the California labor commissioner and fines start at $100.
The law applies to salaried workers but does not overturn existing collective agreements, so unions such as teachers and nurses must comply with what their contracts say about overtime communications.
Remote employees who work for California employers are also subject to the law. The bill only regulates California employers, so remote workers who report to out-of-state employers in California are not counted.
Haney says the law only applies to managers and their employees, but that could change — so your coworkers emailing you late at night is in the clear (for now).
Companies that consistently break the law could face fines, but Haney says he doesn’t want the law to be too onerous. Instead, he hopes it encourages employers to talk to employees “openly, upfront” about when and how they work.
The increasingly congested lines as people get to and from work have gotten “worse” since the pandemic, and Haney said the gradual increase in remote work is making it harder to stick to the workday. According to the 2023 Pew Research Center report, more than half (55%) of workers said they respond to emails or messages outside of work hours.
The proposed law has drawn criticism from employers and the California Chamber of Commerce, including a letter to Haney that called the bill a “blanket rule” and warned that it would be “a step backwards for workplace flexibility.”
Joanna Starek, an organizational psychologist based in San Francisco, said leaders of some of the organizations she works with, from small businesses to Fortune 100 companies, are “equally confused” about how to implement the bill if it passes.
“If you have thousands of employees spread across different time zones, how do you determine everyone’s work schedule and the best time to communicate?” says Starek, Senior Partner and Chief Commercial Officer of RHR International Board of Directors.
Even if you all work in the same place, “employees have different personal responsibilities and demands on their time,” says Starek, “which makes it difficult to keep everyone in line … it’s very difficult to comply with the law.”
