Employees contacted out of hours could be owed thousands in compensation. Under new plans from the UK government, bosses won’t be able to consistently message workers after their shift ends. Now, obviously that doesn’t happen for me here, and no one is holding a gun to my head to say that at all, I promise. Now that a lot of people work from home either all the time or on a hybrid model, it can be harder to switch off than ever. Countries such as Ireland and Belgium already have a right to switch off that has supposedly helped to boost worker productivity and therefore their economies. New rulings will allow employees to take their employers to a tribunal where they could be compensated with thousands of pounds. The right to switch off is one of several reforms to workers rights being introduced by Labour. Additional measures include banning exploitative zero hour contracts, increasing the minimum wage, ensuring rights to sick pay and Protection against unfair dismissal starting from the first day after probation. Getting compensation because of a rogue text is likely not quite as black and white as it sounds and many other factors will be at play. So don’t get too excited about a boost to your bank account if your boss messages you at one minute past five.