Imagine the following scenario: You are a commercial developer. It is noon on a Sunday, and you are reviewing your bid for a major project before submitting it at 9:00 am the next day. You notice a potential error in the analysis underlying your proposal that could make your bid uncompetitive. You contact the employee who performed the analysis to ask them about their analysis. You send emails and texts, but to no avail. You call and leave voicemails on their cell phone. You receive no response. You submit your bid the next day, but you are outbid for the project by a competitor. New California legislation will legally allow your workers to ignore your calls during nonwork hours and prevent you from taking any action against them.

California Assembly Bill 2751, also known as the “Right to Disconnect” bill, if passed and signed into law, will make contacting your employees during nonworking hours a violation of state law. The bill requires employers to “establish a workplace policy that provides employees the right to disconnect from communications from the employer during nonworking hours.” The bill states that employees are entitled to ignore communications during nonworking hours without employer retaliation.

Employers would be allowed to communicate with employees during nonworking hours only for an emergency or for scheduling purposes. An emergency is an “unforeseen situation that threatens an employee, customer, or the public; disrupts or shuts down operations; or causes physical or........

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