The right to digital disconnection is regulated in Organic Law 3/2018, of 5 December, on Personal Data Protection and guarantee of digital rights, as well as in article 20 bis of Royal Legislative Decree 2/2015, of 23 October, approving the Revised Text of the Workers’ Statute, which states that “workers have the right to privacy in the use of digital devices made available to them by the employer, to digital disconnection and to privacy from the use of video surveillance and geolocation devices under the terms established in current legislation on the protection of personal data and guarantee of digital rights”.
Law 10/2021, of 9 July, about remote work, limits the use of technological means during rest periods and regulates “the right to digital disconnection in cases of total or partial remote work, as well as in the employee’s home linked to the use of technological tools for work purposes”.
Failure to comply with digital disconnection may result in the imposition by the Labour Inspectorate of minor penalties of up to 2,450 euros, serious penalties of up to 49,180 euros and very serious penalties of up to 200,000 euros, as they entail situations of violation of the right to privacy and the consideration due to the dignity of workers, penalties that are regulated in the Law on Offences and Penalties in the Social Order.
MEASURES FOR DIGITAL DISCONNECTION IN COMPANIES:
Companies must implement a DIGITAL DISCONNECTION PROTOCOL that establishes an efficient and rational use of electronic devices, e-mail, corporate telephone, etc., not requesting a response outside working hours, nor during rest periods, leave, leave or holidays, except in the case of force majeure or exceptional circumstances. Companies shall inform workers of their right to disconnect electronic devices used for work outside working hours.
Workers have the right not to connect to the company’s telematic means outside their working hours, as well as not to answer or respond to calls, video calls, messages or emails.