The Right to Disconnect in Modern Employment: Protecting the Boundary Between Work and Personal Life in the Digital Era

Abstract

Digital transformation has changed the way humans work, especially regarding time and space. Smartphones, emails, instant messaging applications, and collaborative work platforms allow employers to contact employees almost anywhere and at any time. The boundary traditionally established by labor law between "working hours" and "rest periods" is therefore increasingly eroded. This article examines the right to disconnect as a new legal institution designed to protect that boundary. The study uses qualitative methods: textual analysis, comparative jurisprudence, historical analysis, synthesis, logic, and descriptive statistics based on secondary data. The article systematizes international scientific literature, compares representative legal models (France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Ireland, Ontario, Chile, Australia, and the European Union), and then juxtaposes them with current Vietnamese law. The results show that the right to disconnect has evolved from a bargainable declaration into an enforceable legal obligation backed by sanctions. Meanwhile, Vietnam's Labour Code of 2019 is still designed according to the logic of physical time and lacks legal instruments to regulate out-of-hours digital communications. Guided by the directives of the Documents of the 14th National Congress of the Party on human development, digital transformation, and the building of harmonious, stable, and progressive labor relations, the article proposes a "conditional hybrid" model for Vietnam: codifying general principles in law, combined with collective bargaining and internal labor regulations for contextual implementation.