Public Servants in Belgium have won the legal right to ignore calls from their employers outside of work hours.
The new laws, to come into force on 1 February, are designed to protect workers against overworking and burnout.
The ‘right to disconnect’ is to effectively ban Public Service bosses from contacting employees when they are not at work, apart from in emergency or otherwise ‘exceptional’ circumstances.
The new rules were set out in a letter to Public Servants by Minister of Civil Service, Petra De Sutter.
In the letter, Ms De Sutter (pictured) said greater protections were needed to safeguard employees from excessive stress and burnout, adding that allowing employees to fully disconnect from work was “linked to positive wellbeing outcomes such as better focus, better recuperation and a more sustainable energy level”.
She said burnout had become particularly problematic amid the growth of remote working in the COVID-19 environment, as officers tended to remain on their computers after work and read work emails sent to their smartphones.
The new right to disconnect rules apply only to Federal Public Servants, though it is anticipated that broader laws will eventually be enshrined that cover Belgium’s private sector.
It’s not yet clear how the new right to disconnect rules will be enforced, nor what constitutes as an ‘exceptional’ excuse for employers to contact employees out-of-hours.
However, Ms De Sutter did say in her letter that Public Servants “shall not suffer any disadvantages if he (or she) does not answer the telephone or read work-related messages outside normal working hours”.
Belgium is also reported to be weighing up a move to a four-day working week as part of wider reforms, also prompted by the COVID-19 pandemic.
Brussels, 9 January 2022
