Employer and employee are two terms that describe how businesses operate in India and around the world. There’s been a lot of talk about these two lately because of disagreements about work hours and free time. In the 1800s, labor groups used the slogan “Eight hours for work, eight hours for rest, and eight hours for what you will.” This idea has pretty much become the modern way of working.
India has one of the strictest ones, which is 48 hours a week. The closely connected global world continues to affect how work hours are managed. The Indian Express reported that NCP-SP MP Supriya Sule presented a Private Members’ Bill in the Lok Sabha on Friday. The bill says that workers should not be able to answer work-related calls and emails outside of work hours. Sule is a strong supporter of keeping a good work-life balance.
For the second time, Sule has brought this Bill to the floor. The first time was in 2019.
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Tharoor’s Bill supports Supriya Sule.
Shashi Tharoor, a Congress MP, put forward another Private Members’ Bill along the same lines. He introduced the Occupational Safety, Health, and Working Conditions Code (Amendment) Bill, 2025, which aimed to limit working hours, protect the right to stop work, and establish systems for mental health support and dispute resolution.
Supriya Sule’s Right to Disconnect Bill, 2025, says that workers should be able to disconnect from their work lives to reduce stress and make it easier to balance their personal and work lives.
The Baramati MP’s bill’s “Objects and Reasons” section refers to a World Economic Forum report and says, “Studies have found that if an employee is expected to be available around the clock, they tend to show risks of overwork such as not getting enough sleep, becoming stressed, and being emotionally exhausted.” Employees say that the constant need to answer calls and emails (called “telepressure”) and check their emails all day, even on weekends and holidays, has ruined their work-life balance.
“A study suggests that constantly checking work-related emails and texts may overwork workers’ brains, causing a condition known as ‘info-obesity,” she said.
What is the Bill’s demand?
If an employer calls an employee after work, the MP’s Bill says the employer can, but the employee does not have to answer and can choose not to. Here are some punishments that an employee can’t get for doing that:
- There needs to be an Employees’ Welfare Authority set up so that all employees can turn off work-related calls and emails when they’re not at work and on breaks.
- The Authority needs to do a baseline study to get a full picture of how workers use computers and other tools for contact when they’re not at work.
- Every business with more than 10 workers must discuss the rules for working outside normal hours with their workers, groups, or agents. Workers should be able to get extra pay at the regular rate.
- Along with companies, the government should set up digital detox sites and offer therapy services to help workers maintain a healthy work-life balance.
- Companies will have to pay a fine of 1% of their workers’ total pay if they don’t follow the rules.
- Parliament meets every Friday, which is when the Private Members’ Bills are discussed. But it’s not easy to get them passed—so far, only 14 have become law, the study said. In 1956, six of the 14 Bills became laws. The most recent one to be passed by parliament was the Supreme Court (Enlargement of Criminal Appellate Jurisdiction) Bill, 1968, on August 9, 1970.
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