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screen: John – Office . Her chest tightened. For a second, she froze, just like always. She imagined the disappointment if she didn’t answer, the awkward silence the next morning, the thought of being seen as uncommitted. Her thumb hovered over the screen. Then she remembered the words she had underlined so hard they tore the paper: the right to say no. She watched the phone vibrate until it stopped. The silence that followed was heavier than she expected, but it didn’t hurt. It settled. She took a deep breath that felt like hers for the first time in months. When she finally returned to work the next morning, no one said anything. John just nodded hello. The world hadn’t ended. Tamara smiled to herself. The law was real, but so was courage. Sometimes, the bravest thing you can do is not pick up the phone.
pause. The law might give her the right to disconnect, but it didn’t make it any easier to use it. She reread the words. Workers have the right to say no. Simple on the screen, but enormous in her mind. For so long, she had built her days around being available, proving herself useful, reliable, and indispensable. Saying no felt like pulling a thread from the fabric of her future. Yet somewhere deep down, a quieter thought began to form. Maybe it wasn’t disloyal to rest. Boundaries weren’t a weakness, but a different kind of strength. A few days later, on her uni day, Tamara sat in the library, finishing a case brief. Her phone buzzed beside her notebook. The name lit up the
whether she was paid to be on call. It wasn’t a ban on after-hours contact, just a balance rule. Employers could still reach out, but workers had the right to say no. In that moment, for the first time since she started her degree, it hit her. Law wasn’t just a theory. It was real. It was her life. But could she really say no? She thought about the partners, their fast voices, their endless urgency, the way even a quick question felt like an instruction. They weren’t bad people, just ambitious, always chasing the next client, the next deal, the next win. Still, the idea of refusing a call from them made her stomach twist. She could already picture the silence on the other end of the line, the polite but heavy
She reread the words. Workers have the right to say no. Simple on the screen, but enormous in her mind.
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GLOBAL PAYROLL MAGAZINE ISSUE 17
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