Portugal is not far behind. 
From Al Jazeera English.

In Portugal, out-of-office means off-limits
Pandemic-era employees the world over have gotten used to work invading their 
home lives. But Portugal has put forward a radical plan to keep bosses out of 
the bedroom.

The ruling Socialist Party recently amended Portugal’s labor law with a set of 
changes designed to regulate remote work and promote a healthier work-life 
balance. These proposals had been in the works since before the pandemic, but 
according to the Socialist Party, they have become even more necessary in an 
age of mandatory remote work.

“Some workers complained they couldn’t simply take a break because they were 
constantly under pressure to answer work-related matters. There was this idea 
that because people were forced to stay at home, they were always available to 
work,” says Ana Catarina Mendes, the party’s parliamentary leader.

For violating the new law, employers could be fined up to $11,000. 

Transforming remote work

The change that elicited the biggest response has to do with the so-called 
“right to disconnect” – legislation that now makes it illegal for employers to 
contact workers outside of office hours by phone, text message or email.

But the legislation also suggests a deeper concern for employees’ economic 
well-being and mental health. From now on, workers in Portugal can be 
reimbursed for increases in electricity, gas and internet bills, which will be 
considered business expenses. Additionally, companies are expected to organize 
face-to-face office gatherings at least every two months – a measure 
implemented to “tackle loneliness.” The parents of young children – up to age 8 
– are also entitled to work from home without having to notify their employers 
in advance. The law went into effect on November 25.

Enforcing the changes

While these benefits seem generous, experts worry that implementing them will 
be tricky.

“The law states that workers have the right to disconnect, but that employers 
can invoke a ‘higher motive’ to contact them,” says António Garcia Pereira, a 
labor attorney in Portugal. What counts as “higher motive” is anyone’s guess, 
especially in a culture in which “the good worker is the last one to leave the 
office.” 

It’s up to workers to prove their employer is breaking the law, and they must 
do so at their own expense. Garcia Pereira says that “for business owners, it’s 
cheap to go against the law.” The new laws also don’t apply to public sector 
workers or companies with fewer than 10 employees  – which collectively employ 
the majority of Portugal’s working population.

The future that workers want

For now, these arguments don’t concern Mendes.

“I don’t believe we should focus on potential violations. We wanted to regulate 
ways of working to guarantee employee rights, but also to reflect on the future 
of work: How can we take advantage of the digital and green transitions to 
create a better world? In Portugal, we work practically the same number of 
hours that we used to 20 years ago – isn't it time something is done to change 
that?”

The same week the labor law was being discussed in Parliament, Portugal’s 
Minister of Labor and Social Security pitched the country at a tech conference 
in Lisbon. “We consider Portugal one of the best places in the world for 
digital nomads and remote workers,” Ana Mendes Godinho told Web Summit 
attendees. “We want to attract them.”

But Mendes rejects the idea that the new regulations are just designed to 
attract outsiders. “It is true that given Portugal’s demographic and aging 
problem, we need to attract foreigners,” she concedes. “But these changes to 
the labor law are meant to protect those who chose to work from home.”

Remote working was mandatory in Portugal until last August, when the pandemic 
slowed down. As new cases surge – despite the country’s 86 percent vaccination 
rate – officials are discussing whether it’s time to send people home again. 
Regardless of the outcome, the pandemic has already revolutionized workers’ 
feelings about their jobs. Like workers all over the world, Portuguese 
employees would prefer to have the option to go into the office on a part-time 
basis – or not at all.

However difficult the law may be to implement, it does have one big advantage – 
it’s designed to accommodate a future that many workers want.

— Catarina Fernandes Martins, reporting from Lisbon

Roland Francis
416-453-3371


> On Dec 2, 2021, at 10:42 AM, Roland Francis <roland.fran...@gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> A new labour law has been passed in Ontario that prohibits employers from 
> contacting their employees after working hours by email or phone, in the 
> interest of work-life balance.
> 
> Here is what it looks like.
> 
> Ontario’s ‘right to disconnect’ law has just been passed — so do you actually 
> have the right to disconnect? | The Star
> https://www.thestar.com/business/2021/12/02/what-does-the-right-to-disconnect-look-like-ontarios-about-to-find-out.html
> 
> Roland.
> Toronto.
> 

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