Employees' right to disconnection outside working hours

The purpose of this study is to explore the possibility of the right to disconnect, which should be enacted under Thai law. Since nowadays, despite all the benefits of information and communication technologies, their existence also blurs the boundaries between professional and private life of people, especially for employees. Now that it is easier for employers to contact employees outside of working hours via digital devices, employees’ private and family time are compromised. This affects employees’ health and safety. The author therefore conducts this law research regarding the right to disconnect in other countries, e.g., France, Canada and Philippines in the hope of promoting Thai employees’ well-being. This law can raise employers’ awareness regarding their employees’ privacy right. This is the reason why the author is very eager to study about the right to disconnect.In this research, the author compares the existing Thai law with other countries’ laws, as mentioned above, through the written provisions of legislations regarding the right to disconnect. it studies both the advantages and the disadvantages in order to consider whether they are appropriate for Thai law. The author also studied some articles which thoroughly explained the right to disconnect of each country by reliable scholars, including the articles published in the news or by international organizations. It has been found that the right to disconnect under each country’s labour law could not be adopted directly into Thai legislation. It should be considered as a case-by-case basis based on the types of company in Thailand. Furthermore, the Article 24 of Labour Protection Act 1998, deemed as the one of obstacles to the employees’ privacy right, should be replaced with the provision pertaining a collective bargaining agreement, an individual agreement and company policy, which will effectively entitle employees’ right to disconnect in case there is the regulation governing the establishment of whether the agreement and the company policy because each company in Thailand has a different policy regarding working hours.