Councilman Espinal Wants To Make It A Right To Disconnect from Your Employer During the Holidays and Off Hours

Message from Brooklyn Councilman, Rafael Espinal:

All over the city, New Yorkers are getting ready to unwind over a long Thanksgiving weekend. For me, it means connecting with friends and family. I hope you get a break too.

But while you’re taking a break, how many times are you going to check your phone for work-related texts and emails?

For as much good as smartphones and plentiful high speed Internet have brought us, they’ve also created an always-on work culture that most of us have never stopped to examine.

As constant connection to the Internet loses its novelty and becomes a normal way of life, employers have adjusted their expectations of 24/7 availability to the point where workers fear retaliation if they don’t respond to every off-hours request.

Here’s the thing: It doesn’t have to be this way. You should have the right to disconnect.

This year, I introduced legislation in the City Council to enable the Right to Disconnect in our laws, because the line between New Yorker’s lives and their jobs has gotten too blurry.

Would you join me in calling on the City Council to pass and enact the Right to Disconnect?

Both freelance and full-time workers should have the right to disconnect from their daily grind without fear of losing their job, making New York City a place where you work to live, not live to work. It may sound unrealistic, but New York wouldn’t be the first—France has already enacted similar legislation because it’s healthy and beneficial for you and the people you work for.

I am running for Public Advocate because we need a New York City that works for all New Yorkers.

Thank you for joining me in this campaign.

Rafael Espinal

P.S. You can read more about the Right to Disconnect bill on Motherboard here.