Disconnection: A Right in a Phase of Progressive Definition

The introduction of new communication and information technologies in the working environment, together with the new model of work known as “smart working”, have on the one hand changed the balance between work and home, but on the other hand have lead to the question whether there is a boundary between flexibility and the risk of being always online. This is the context in which the right to disconnect emerges. The right to disconnect refers to the right of the employee to be unreachable outside working hours without running the risk of disciplinary consequences. The aim of this research is therefore to provide a first solution to the problem, firstly by analysing the close link between the right to disconnect and the safeguard of physical and moral personality of the employee and secondly, by taking into account equal treatment of workers, collective bargaining and trade unions. In order to shine light on these debates the following directives and laws will be taken into account: directive 93/104/EEC of 23/11/93; Loi Travail of 2016, which disciplines expressis verbis the right to disconnect; artt. 32 and 36, §. 2 of the Italian Constitution and the recent Law n.81/2018 on smart working.