The line between ‘work’ and ‘home’ has historically been clear for most employees – separated by a distinct office building, worksite, or retail space. Technology has blurred this line in the past few decades and, for some...more
Real World Impact: U.S. employers should be aware of the global trend of “right to disconnect” laws and should review their policies on after-hours communications to stay ahead of social and legal changes....more
Taking a page from countries across the Atlantic, the California legislature is considering a bill that would give employees the “right to disconnect.” ...more
California once again is at the forefront of the expansion of workplace rights with a first-of-its-kind proposed legislation in the United States that would provide workers with the freedom and the right to disconnect from...more
California Assembly member Matt Haney has introduced the first “right to disconnect” law in the United States, Assembly Bill 2751 (A.B. 2751). Under the proposed legislation, employers would be required to define employees'...more
Australia’s Senate on Thursday, February 8, 2024, passed a bill that would prevent an employer from contacting employees outside of work hours. The bill gives the employee the right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to...more
Since 1 April 2023, Belgian employers in the private sector with 20 employees or more must include the right to disconnect in collective bargaining agreements or work rules. The right to disconnect applies to all categories...more
Employers in Luxembourg must now consult with their employees and trade unions to set up systems to protect employees’ rights to disconnect. A new law has been passed in Luxembourg, which requires employers to put...more
In another ruling promoting a pro-labor agenda under the Biden administration, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) reverted to its pre-2019 precedent on the balance between the rights of property owners and the rights...more
On Friday, the National Labor Relations Board, in a 3-2 decision in Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation II, changed the standard applicable to property owners seeking to restrict off-duty, outside contractor...more
The pandemic has changed the landscape of an employee’s work life in its entirety. Employees were uprooted from their normal routines and required to work from their homes. The result? Growing concerns regarding burnout and a...more
The "right to disconnect" refers to an employee's ability to not engage in work-related communications (emails, texts, telephone calls, video calls, etc.) while off duty....more
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has ruled that a property owner lawfully may exclude off-duty contractor employees from engaging in leafletting and other Section 7 activity on its property, unless: (1) the...more
Coming on the heels of its decision in Bexar County Performing Arts Center Foundation d/b/a Tobin Center for the Performing Arts, 368 NLRB No. 46 (2019) in which the Board rebalanced the rights of property owners versus...more
On Friday, September 6, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) issued its third decision of the summer regarding employers’ ability to restrict access by nonemployees to its property (see prior analysis: Board...more
Two of the four members of the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) have indicated they are willing to rethink a key element of the Board’s more-than-40-year-old precedent regarding employers’ off-duty employee access rules...more
In today’s business climate, work always seems to be on the mind. But should it be? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the productivity of the average American worker has skyrocketed by an astounding 400% since...more
The National Labor Relations Board (the Board) continues to modify the way employers, unions and employees view and relate to each other in the workplace. In two decisions right before Labor Day, the Board strengthened...more
The National Labor Relations Board (the “Board”) recently issued a precedent-reversing ruling on August 23, 2019, that allows employers to bar non-employees from leafletting on their premises. In its decision, the Board held...more
In a split decision, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB or the Board) ruled last week that a property owner that is not in any underlying labor dispute, does not have to grant access to off-duty employees of an onsite...more
A property owner generally has the right to control access to its property, including the rights to restrict hours of access, to prohibit certain activities when access is granted, and exclude or prevent access. These rights...more
On August 23, 2019, the National Labor Relations Board reversed precedent and rebalanced the rights of property owners versus the Section 7 rights of employees in a labor dispute. In Bexar County Performing Arts Center...more
Seyfarth Synopsis: “Thank you for your email, I will be out of the office from….” New York City employers might soon be seeing a lot more of these “out-of-office” emails from their employees if a recently proposed “Right to...more
Given the ever-increasing reliance on digital technology, employees are more and more tethered to their smartphones – checking email during their commute, at the dinner table, and even from their beds – essentially creating a...more
One of the aspects of digitalization is that it blurs the lines between personal and professional lives of employees. Such acknowledgement is reflected in EU and French laws, notably with regard to teleworking and the right...more