Introduction
Since 2018 companies have had an obligation to guarantee employees right to disconnect – that is, disengage from work-related electronic communications – in order to ensure that employees take daily and weekly rest periods and their annual leave.
While there are still many companies that have not implemented policies that guarantee this right to their employees, the first legal rulings tackling discrepancies in interpreting this right are beginning to emerge.
On 4 November 2020 the Madrid High Court of Justice clarified that employees right to disconnect does not prevent employers from requesting employees to provide services outside their usual working hours.
Facts
An employee was instructed to undertake a two-hour online training course in his own time without changing his monthly working shifts.