Australian Right-to-Disconnect Laws Come Into Effect

Overwhelming our brains usually means overwhelming our body also, especially our spleen.Estrada Anton/Shutterstock

Workers who receive calls or emails from their boss during annual leave, late at night or while cooking dinner for their young family will have the right to ignore them until they clock back on.

Australians can refuse to monitor, read or respond to work communication outside of paid hours unless doing so is unreasonable, when the country’s right-to-disconnect laws come into effect from Aug. 26.

They are meant to ensure employees are paid for every hour they work, instead of the average 5.4 hours a week they currently perform without pay according to the Australia Institute.

The laws have sparked fierce political debate from unions, business groups and other advocates, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton vowing to overturn them if elected.

The right to disconnect doesn’t apply to emergencies, and working out what’s reasonable includes the reason for making contact, how disruptive it is, the nature of someone’s job, and their personal circumstances including caring responsibilities.

The provision allowing for a certain amount of wriggle room as “reasonable” is a broad concept, according to Sandra Martain from Curtin University.

She said managers and workers who are paid on-call allowances, overtime or by-the-hour won’t feel any changes.

“What it’s saying is workplace cultures have developed that seem to expect people will work perhaps unlimited hours in some situations and that that has to be pulled back in,” she said.

Australian Council of Trade Unions President Michele O'Neil hopes the laws will stop employers being “disorganised” and relying on technology to contact workers at short notice about shift changes or changing deadlines.

She said workers in unpredictable industries like firefighting or those with flexible work including parents who split shifts won’t experience any changes.

“Being contacted out of hours, being asked to do things when you’re not working or on leave shouldn’t be a way of getting unpaid work out of people” she said.

Mental health-related workers’ compensation claims have risen more than a third since 2017-18 and O'Neil hopes better work-life balance will benefit individuals and boost productivity.

“If we can get this right it will actually mean workers are healthier and you have less work-related health issues,” she said.

Reform Concerns

The right to disconnect is part of the government’s Closing Loopholes reforms, which updates the definition of a casual employee and sets out minimum work standards for gig economy workers.

The law doesn’t ban bosses reaching out to workers, apply to high income earners or affect workplaces with fewer than 15 people for another year.

The Business Council of Australia agrees everyone deserves to switch of at home but believes it should be dealt with at the workplace level rather than by law, chief executive Bran Black said.

“The combined effect of the government’s new laws, including new definitions for casual employees and independent contractors, will increase red tape and union power, while reducing productivity and hitting our economy at the worst possible time,” he said.

“Our employment laws need to incentivise getting more people into work rather than creating more red tape to hiring people.”

Despite passing parliament earlier in 2024, human resources consultant Natasha Hawker is concerned many businesses aren’t ready as their financial survival is front-of-mind.

The Employee Matters managing director is worried many haven’t thought enough about the potential for Fair Work mediation, lawsuits or fines and urges employers to ensure they’re ready.

Preparation should include communicating what the changes mean to the workforce and managers, reviewing position descriptions to see if contact could trigger overtime and checking whether businesses have enough resources to get everything done during regular hours.

“Most business owners ... are fairly high risk at the moment because they’re fighting again for their financial survival but you don’t want to be plastered all over the front page,” she said.