A new provision introducing penalties for employers enters into force on Tuesday, 30 June, completing Luxembourg's legislation on the right to disconnect.
The right to disconnect is one of several recent measures introduced in Luxembourg to protect workers and their privacy. With employees increasingly reachable outside working hours through email, telephone calls, and professional or private messaging services, the issue has become particularly important.
This is especially true in a country where maintaining a balance between work and private life is becoming increasingly difficult.
Under Luxembourg law, which entered into force in 2023 and was strengthened this Tuesday, 30 June 2026, companies or individual sectors must establish practical arrangements and technical measures governing when and how employees disconnect from work.
Because workplaces and methods of communication vary considerably, the law does not specify which tools may be used, which hours must be observed, or which exceptions should apply.
It also does not create an absolute right for employees to be unreachable. Although the legislation refers to a right to disconnect, it establishes a general principle rather than a uniform set of rules.
Responsibility therefore falls to employers and employees, who must define how the right applies through a collective agreement, sectoral agreement, or internal company policy. This document must set out the rules governing disconnection and protect employees against possible abuses.
Angélique Lazzara, central secretary for the financial sector at the Independent Luxembourg Trade Union Confederation (OGBL), said companies had very different operational needs, adding that some jobs cannot be performed remotely, while others involve on-call duties. The rules must therefore clearly state when employees are expected to remain connected and when they are not, she explained.
Lazzara warned that, despite the existence of collective agreements, some employees were still contacted while on sick leave or holiday because their manager needed their assistance.
"Some 90% of employees are so afraid of losing their jobs that they would log on at midnight if they were asked to", Lazzara said, adding that losing a job was particularly difficult in the current climate.
According to the union representative, employees often answer calls outside working hours because they fear disciplinary action, losing a bonus, or harming their prospects at work.
Employees should nevertheless avoid going beyond what is required. While managers are responsible for respecting the right to disconnect, staff should also avoid working unnecessarily outside their agreed hours.
Working while on sick leave to assist colleagues could potentially be treated as fraud by the National Health Fund (CNS) if it has taken over responsibility for paying the employee's sickness benefits.
Lazzara also cited the case of an employee who continued working after hours and contacted a client using a private email address rather than a professional account. Although the employee intended to be helpful, the mistake breached data protection rules under the General Data Protection Regulation, according to Lazzara.
She warned that performing additional work outside agreed hours offered no guarantee of job security. "If your employer no longer wants to keep you, it will not matter whether you log on during your holiday or while on sick leave. They will get rid of you", Lazzara stressed.
The right to disconnect has also reinforced the principle that working time and overtime are tightly regulated in Luxembourg.
Standard working time is limited to eight hours a day and 40 hours a week. Including overtime, employees may generally work up to ten hours a day and 48 hours a week.
"Your employment contract sets out your working hours. You are paid for those hours. Anything beyond them is not work", Lazzara said. She stressed that this was especially important during sick leave, when the employee could be subject to checks by the CNS.
Remote working, which has become widespread in several sectors since the coronavirus pandemic, does not mean being available around the clock, she added.
Employees experiencing problems with disconnection should first discuss the matter with their manager and staff delegation in an effort to find a solution.
The Inspectorate of Labour and Mines (ITM) explained that the offence created by the legislation does not concern an isolated failure by an employee or manager to respect the right to disconnect.
Instead, employers may be penalised for failing to establish the required company framework, the ITM explained. This is the specific point that the ITM can examine when determining whether a business complies with the law.
The legislation does not impose fixed disconnection hours or require particular technical measures, such as blocking servers or remote access outside working hours. Each company must define its own arrangements.
Penalties for employers, applicable from 30 June 2026, range from €251 to €25,000. The ITM will assess each case individually, as there is no fixed scale linking particular breaches to specific fines.
The ITM said its initial approach would focus on information and prevention. Employers found to be in breach would first be asked to bring their practices into compliance. Penalties would follow only if they failed to correct the situation.
This formal procedure should nevertheless remain a last resort. The first step should normally be a discussion between the employee, their manager, and the staff delegation.
The OGBL, which took part in negotiations on the banking sector agreement in 2023, said larger companies had generally developed their arrangements in consultation with staff delegations.
Each company charter included its own definition of disconnection, provisions concerning remote work, and practical measures, according to Lazzara. A bank might, for example, establish and define a reasonable working time window during which employees could be contacted, she said.
The introduction of disconnection policies was also accompanied by awareness measures and training.
Lazzara explained that some companies include employees' working hours in their email signatures to make clear that they are not available around the clock. Staff have also been trained to schedule emails for later delivery and to use automatic messages directing colleagues or clients to another contact during an absence, she noted.
Lazzara added that, where necessary, a company may even block an employee's remote access if they repeatedly connect outside their working hours. She said this had already happened in the case of someone who continued working while on sick leave.
These rules and practices are intended to reinforce a simple principle emphasised by the OGBL: "Work is there to allow you to live, but work is not your life."
