Luxembourg introduces the right to disconnect

The situation

With the use of digital technology, working practices are changing and employees are increasingly connected outside office hours. Can you send messages to your employee at midnight? Do they have to reply? The Labour Code already defined working hours, but not really the notion of a right to disconnect.

It is therefore in order to adapt to this new reality that the protections necessary for employees' health need to be created.

This protection is now enshrined in law.

Principle: the right to disconnect requires businesses to put in place instruments to regulate the use of digital tools. These measures aim to ensure that employees' rest periods and leave are respected, as well as the balance between professional, personal and family life.

Failure to comply with the obligation to negotiate is a criminal offence punishable by one year's imprisonment and a fine of 3,750 euros. Outside the criminal sphere, the employer is bound by a safety obligation.

In Luxembourg, the law of 28 June 2023 amends the Labour Code to introduce a scheme relating to the right to disconnect outside working hours. Luxembourg law previously regulated this right only indirectly, requiring:

Compliance with the rules protecting employees with regard to working hours. A general obligation to ensure the safety and health of all employees. The new law introduces a new section 8 in Book III, Title One, Chapter II of the Labour Code, entitled "Respect for the right to disconnect". This section provides for administrative penalties imposed by the director of the Inspectorate of Labour and Mines. The right to disconnect is added to the list of subjects that collective bargaining must cover. Each company will then define "the practical arrangements and technical measures for disconnecting from digital tools, awareness-raising and training measures, and compensation arrangements in the event of exceptional derogations from the right to disconnect", either through the collective agreement or through a subordinate agreement.

In the event of non-compliance, the Inspectorate of Labour and Mines (ITM) can impose administrative fines ranging from 251 to 25,000 euros.

That is why eKo CRM has always allowed its customers to configure authorised login hours per user, which limits the risk of logins outside working hours. It does not solve everything, but it helps.

Note that, as well as helping you comply with the law, this feature provides additional protection for company data, for example in the case of an employee who has resigned to join a competitor and who might want to retrieve information from home.