Can logging off undo toxic work culture?

Supriya Sule's bill has good intentions, but it won't be able to fix the systemic maladies unless the feudalistic mindset of corporations change

- Somak Ghoshal

Last week, Supriya Sule, member of Parliament from the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), introduced a private members' bill in the Lok Sabha which ignited a heated discussion online. Typically, such bills are low on the pecking order, summarily discussed and dismissed in most instances, but the Right to Disconnect Bill 2025 touched a nerve among a range of stakeholders.

Sule, who had tabled a similar bill in 2018, reiterates and adds to its demand that employees be granted the legal right to refrain from answering work-related emails and phone calls when they are off duty without any fear of consequences. Recently, Kerala government introduced a similar private members' bill, drawing on the provisions enshrined in Article 21 of the Constitution (Right to Life and Dignity), Articles 38, 39, and 43 of the Directive Principles of state policy, along with protections against overreach as defined in existing labour laws.

Both bills argue that the right to disconnect would improve employee engagement by reducing burnout. According to an article published in the