Is it rude to message coworkers after hours?
Guilty
The short answer
If the message can wait until morning, it should, or it should be scheduled to send then. Urgent issues are the exception, and they are rare.
The ruling
From the public record. Names are replaced with roles.
Small claims division
Case no.PC-2026-06093
The coworker who got the 11:40 message v. The coworker who sent quick question
Filed 10/18/2026
- Plaintiff
- The coworker who got the 11:40 message
- Defendant
- The coworker who sent quick question
Statement of claim
At 11:40 p.m. my coworker sent me quick question. I opened it. It was about the agenda for a meeting next Thursday. Then she wrote no rush. I was awake until one.
Charge
Late-night transmission of a quick question concerning a meeting eight days away
Judgment
Guilty
Coworker found guilty of an 11:40 p.m. quick question about next Thursday
Sentence
The defendant uses schedule-send for any message after 7 p.m. for the rest of the quarter, and brings the plaintiff a coffee on Thursday.
How the court usually rules on this
The court asks whether the message needed to arrive when it did. Most after-hours messages do not, and schedule-send exists for exactly this reason. Messages to people in other time zones are judged by their local time. A message that says it can wait still lands at 11 at night, and the court notices that.
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