Bill Allowing Workers to Snub Bosses Past Working Hours Draws Mixed Reactions

A bill that seeks to stop your boss from calling you and assigning you duties after working hours has been met with mixed reactions as the Senate commences collection of views from stakeholders and members of the public.

Sponsored by Nandi Senator Samson Cherargei, the Employment (Amendment) Bill, 2021, provides that an employee can disregard calls or any other form of communication such as email or text from their employer to perform some duties after the working hours.

“Where an employer contacts an employee during the period when there is no mutually agreed out of work hours, the employee shall not be obliged to respond,” the Bill reads in part.

This bill seeks to address increased employee burnout. Digital connectivity has also been noted to be slowly eroding leisure time for employees hence affecting their work-life balance,” Cherargei said in his justification for the Bill.

According to the bill, an employer who forces his employees to undertake an assignment outside the working hours and fails to compensate will be liable to a fine of 500,000 shillings or spend one year in jail.

“The principal object of the Bill is to provide for the right to disconnect in the digital age. The right of employees to have their time and privacy respected,” Cherargei said defending his proposed law.

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However, the Ministry of Labor and Federation of Kenya Employers have expressed their reservations arguing that the Bill in its current form is not entirely good for the Kenyan workers.

Led by Labour Cabinet Secretary Simon Chelugui and FKE’s head of advocacy Stephen Obiro, the stakeholders insisted that adoption of the Bill in its current form might lead to a series of disputes in the labor sector.

“The Bill, if adopted, will pose a challenge in fostering harmonious relationships. For instance, employees would be exposed to victimization and mistreatment at work whenever they disconnect,” Chelugui said.

Obiro on the other hand appreciated the intention of the Bill, especially in light of the ‘new normal’ presented by the Covid-19 pandemic but suggested that it be subjected to due process as prescribed in the Labour Institutions Act, 2007 and be considered by the National Labour Board to fulfill the provision for tripartite engagement.

FKE Executive Director Jacqueline Mugo argued that passing the Bill will pinch the youth and women in Kenya.

“It will have an unintended adverse consequence on employment of youths and women in this country and who are most vulnerable. The sectors and nature of work to be highly impacted by this Bill are the low to middle level skilled and service sector operations. These areas predominantly employ youth and women in Kenya,” she stated.