According to deputy Eduardo Castillo López, from Morena and one of the proponents, by establishing in the law this right to digital connection, more than 27 million workers will benefit, of which 75% suffer from work-related stress.
“We have experienced the pressure of being available all the time, calls, messages, emails, chats, even though the day is already over, which generates technostress, a documented phenomenon that causes anxiety, exhaustion and burnout.” said deputy Miguel Ángel Sánchez Rivera, from the Citizen Movement (MC) and also author of the initiative.
“(Rest) is not a privilege, it is part of the right to work. Poor rest impacts stress, mental health, family coexistence and productivity; hence the importance of the approval of this regulation,” he added.
According to their initiative, inadequate rest can cause stress, nervousness, as well as impact on the health of workers and one of the ways in which it manifests itself “can come from overexposure to technologies, also known as ‘techno-stress’.”
This condition, he added, can be caused by calls, emails and messages from the employer during the worker’s rest hours, permits or vacations, which is why the regulation was proposed.
Legislating on digital disconnection responds to the new work realities derived from the pandemic and hyperconnectivity, recalled representative Gabriela Benavides, of the Green Party (PVEM).
By setting limits on schedules, work stress, work overload and invasion of private life are avoided, he added.
The measure also seeks to promote family coexistence for workers, said Morenoist deputy Carlos Alonso Castillo Pérez.
When will the digital disconnection be approved?
A reform on the matter has already been approved twice. In December 2020, they gave the green light to reforms regarding teleworking.
It was added in article 330 of the law and as special obligations for employers, “respect the right to disconnection of workers in the teleworking modality at the end of the working day.
However, this regulation was established for teleworkers. This reform did come into force on January 12, 2021, the day after its promulgation.
On February 18, 2021, the Labor Commission of the Chamber of Deputies approved the opinion to reform article 68 Bis of the Federal Labor Law for the digital disconnection of all workers, but that did not reach a vote of the plenary session.
On April 29, 2021, a similar reform was approved in the plenary session of the Senate. On May 3, the Chamber of Deputies received the minutes, but sent it to the Labor and Social Welfare Commission of the Chamber of Deputies for ruling, however, it remained frozen.
Now, five years after an opinion on the matter was approved for the first time, the deputies are again at the initial point of ruling. For now there is no date for the matter to come to a plenary vote.
Regarding the background of a regulation of this type, according to the deputies this regulation has already existed in France since 2016, in Asia, South Korea and in India since 2018.
In Spain, Law 3/2018 was approved in December 2018, which regulates, for the first time, the right to digital disconnection, applicable both to workers who provide their services in the private sector and in the public administration.
In the Philippines, in January 2022, a bill was presented that aims to make the rule effective, penalizing, if necessary, employers who violate it.
