ERA 2025: The Right to Switch Off — What It Means for Employers

The Employment Rights Act 2025 introduces a code of practice — not a statutory right — on the right to disconnect from work. Employees cannot currently sue an employer for contacting them outside working hours. But the code creates a framework that will be considered in employment tribunal cases where out-of-hours contact is part of a constructive dismissal or harassment claim.

In practice, this means employers should have a clear communication policy. It should set expectations about when workers are expected to be available, acknowledge that not all roles have sharp boundaries, and give workers a genuine way to flag if they are being asked to work beyond contracted hours habitually.

This is less about adding a policy document and more about culture. A business where managers expect responses at 10pm is creating burnout risk and legal exposure at the same time. Mellow's WorkloadSense module — available in the Intelligence tier — analyses email and calendar patterns to surface burnout risk signals before they become a formal complaint. The right to switch off is easier to defend when you have data showing you were paying attention.