Employer messages outside of working hours: The right to disconnect and the limits of the workday

Abstract

This paper analyzes the problem of employers sending messages outside of working hours, especially through digital applications such as WhatsApp, and its repercussions on the worker's right to disconnect. The expansion of communication technologies has blurred the boundaries between working hours and private life, leading to difficulties in controlling working hours as stipulated in the Federal Constitution and the Consolidation of Labor Laws. This phenomenon has caused informal extensions of working hours, suppression of rest periods, and significant harm to the physical, mental, and social health of workers. Furthermore, the lack of disconnection has repercussions in the family environment and contributes to increased vulnerability, especially in already sensitive contexts such as during the Covid-19 pandemic.

The overall objective of the research is to examine the right to disconnect as an indispensable instrument for the protection of health, human dignity, a healthy work environment, and family life, demonstrating the need for limits on employer communication after the end of the workday. This study aims to demonstrate why disconnection is an essential element in ensuring social rights such as health, leisure, safety, psychosocial well-being, and protection of family life, as provided for in the Brazilian legal system. The methodology employed is qualitative, descriptive, and documentary in nature, based on the analysis of labor legislation, the Federal Constitution, institutional studies on worker health, and concrete situations observed after the intensification of work activities in the domestic environment. The approach used is deductive, starting from the regulations governing working hours, the fundamental rights to rest and health, and the interruption measures provided for in legislation. The results indicate that the absence of adequate periods of disconnection compromises the physical and psychological balance of the worker, favors the onset of illnesses, intensifies emotional disorders, and increases the exposure of families to situations of conflict and violence, especially among women, children, the elderly, and people with disabilities. It is also evident that respect for disconnection has an individual and collective dimension, functioning as a measure to prevent illness and protect the family environment. It is concluded that the right to disconnect should be understood as a fundamental guarantee for the preservation of health, rest, safety, and family life, constituting an indispensable pillar for a healthy work environment. For future research, it is suggested that studies on specific legislative regulations and effective mechanisms for monitoring and protecting this right in the face of new communication technologies be explored in greater depth.