A right to disconnect as a necessary addition to working time reduction

This article argues that formal reductions in statutory or collectively agreed working hours may be ineffective without corresponding reductions in workload and robust safeguards against work encroaching onto non-working time. Technological developments and the expansion of telework have intensified the risks entailed by permanent availability, as well as increasing work intensity and informal extensions of working time. This article shows how existing working time legislation, particularly the EU Working Time Directive and its interpretation by the Court of Justice of the EU, may be insufficient to address these challenges. It critically examines the limits of current legal frameworks and evaluates the emergence of a right to disconnect at national and European levels, contending that clear definition and effective implementation of such a right are essential to safeguard meaningful working time reduction.