In a significant move aimed at reshaping India’s modern work culture, NCP MP Supriya Sule on Friday introduced a landmark private member’s bill in the Lok Sabha seeking to protect employees from round-the-clock digital work demands. Titled the Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025, the proposed legislation calls for a legally enforceable boundary between personal time and office communication.
The bill seeks the creation of a dedicated Employees’ Welfare Authority, which would ensure that workers are not compelled to respond to work-related phone calls, emails, or messages after office hours or on holidays. Under this framework, employees would have every right to refuse after-hours communication without fear of retaliation from employers.
Sule argued that the current “always online” culture is damaging the physical and mental well-being of employees across sectors. Studies cited in the bill highlight risks such as chronic stress, sleep disruption, emotional burnout, and a growing phenomenon called “telepressure” — the compulsive need to respond immediately to digital communication. The bill also refers to “info-obesity,” a condition caused by the brain being overstimulated by continuous work messages and notifications.
“Today’s digital environment has eroded healthy work-life boundaries,” the bill notes, adding that restoring balance is essential for both productivity and employee welfare. Sule emphasised that the legislation is not meant to burden employers but to encourage flexibility, allowing companies to negotiate mutually agreeable terms with their workforce.
In addition to this bill, Supriya Sule tabled two more proposals: the Paternity and Paternal Benefits Bill, 2025, which seeks to introduce paid paternal leave to encourage equal parenting, and the Code on Social Security (Amendment) Bill, 2025, aimed at formally recognising gig workers and platform employees as a distinct labour category. This would ensure minimum wages, regulated working hours, social security benefits, and fair contractual terms for India’s growing gig workforce.
