Sydney (AFP) – Australia gave millions of workers the legal right to "disconnect" on Monday, allowing them to ignore unreasonable out-of-hours calls, emails and texts from their bosses.
Issued on: 26/08/2024 -
A boat in Sydney Harbour on August 20, where many residents welcomed new legislation that allows them to "disconnect" from work when off duty © Saeed KHAN / AFP/File
People can now refuse to monitor, read, or respond to their employers' attempts to contact them outside work hours -- unless that refusal is deemed "unreasonable".
Unions welcomed the legislation, saying it gave workers a way to reclaim some work-life balance.
"Today is a historic day for working people," said Michele O'Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
"Australian unions have reclaimed the right to knock off after work," she said.
In the streets of Sydney, people appeared to welcome the change.
"I have a very hard time disconnecting and even though I may not necessarily be logged on, my brain is constantly working overtime," not-for-profit worker Karolina Joseski told AFP.
"So getting that after-hour call from my boss doesn't necessarily help."
'Deeply confusing'
But the reform got a cool welcome from Australia's top industry body.
"The 'right to disconnect' laws are rushed, poorly thought out and deeply confusing," the Australian Industry Group said in a statement.
"At the very least, employers and employees will now be uncertain about whether they can take or make a call out of hours to offer an extra shift," it said.
The law is similar to those of some European and Latin American countries.
Research indicates that the right to disconnect benefits employees, said University of Sydney associate professor Chris Wright.
More than 70 percent of workers in European Union companies with a right to disconnect policy considered its impact to be positive, according to a November 2023 study by the EU work-related agency Eurofound.
Employees are experiencing "availability creep" as smartphones and other digital devices put them in reach of their employers, Wright told AFP.
"Having a measure that restores to some extent the boundary between people's work and non-work lives is a positive thing, certainly for employees but also for employers," he said, particularly in industries trying to lure new workers.
'Commonsense'
The Australian law, enacted in February, came into force for medium-sized and large companies as of Monday.
Smaller firms with fewer than 15 employees will be covered from August 26, 2025.
The head of Australia's workplace relations regulator, Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth, said people should take a "commonsense approach" to applying the new law.
Under the legislation, workers may be ordered by a tribunal to stop unreasonably refusing out-of-hours contact, and employers likewise may be ordered to stop unreasonably requiring employees to respond, the regulator said.
The question of what is reasonable will "depend on the circumstances", the Fair Work Ombudsman said in a statement.
Deciding factors may include the reason for the contact, the nature of the employee's role, and their compensation for working extra hours or being available, it said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed the reform, which was pushed through by his centre-left Labor government.
"We want to make sure that just as people don't get paid 24 hours a day, they don't have to work for 24 hours a day," he told national broadcaster ABC.
"It's a mental health issue, frankly, as well, for people to be able to disconnect from their work and connect with their family and their life."
© 2024 AFP
People can now refuse to monitor, read, or respond to their employers' attempts to contact them outside work hours -- unless that refusal is deemed "unreasonable".
Unions welcomed the legislation, saying it gave workers a way to reclaim some work-life balance.
"Today is a historic day for working people," said Michele O'Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
"Australian unions have reclaimed the right to knock off after work," she said.
In the streets of Sydney, people appeared to welcome the change.
"I have a very hard time disconnecting and even though I may not necessarily be logged on, my brain is constantly working overtime," not-for-profit worker Karolina Joseski told AFP.
"So getting that after-hour call from my boss doesn't necessarily help."
'Deeply confusing'
But the reform got a cool welcome from Australia's top industry body.
"The 'right to disconnect' laws are rushed, poorly thought out and deeply confusing," the Australian Industry Group said in a statement.
"At the very least, employers and employees will now be uncertain about whether they can take or make a call out of hours to offer an extra shift," it said.
The law is similar to those of some European and Latin American countries.
Research indicates that the right to disconnect benefits employees, said University of Sydney associate professor Chris Wright.
More than 70 percent of workers in European Union companies with a right to disconnect policy considered its impact to be positive, according to a November 2023 study by the EU work-related agency Eurofound.
Employees are experiencing "availability creep" as smartphones and other digital devices put them in reach of their employers, Wright told AFP.
"Having a measure that restores to some extent the boundary between people's work and non-work lives is a positive thing, certainly for employees but also for employers," he said, particularly in industries trying to lure new workers.
'Commonsense'
The Australian law, enacted in February, came into force for medium-sized and large companies as of Monday.
Smaller firms with fewer than 15 employees will be covered from August 26, 2025.
The head of Australia's workplace relations regulator, Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth, said people should take a "commonsense approach" to applying the new law.
Under the legislation, workers may be ordered by a tribunal to stop unreasonably refusing out-of-hours contact, and employers likewise may be ordered to stop unreasonably requiring employees to respond, the regulator said.
The question of what is reasonable will "depend on the circumstances", the Fair Work Ombudsman said in a statement.
Deciding factors may include the reason for the contact, the nature of the employee's role, and their compensation for working extra hours or being available, it said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed the reform, which was pushed through by his centre-left Labor government.
"We want to make sure that just as people don't get paid 24 hours a day, they don't have to work for 24 hours a day," he told national broadcaster ABC.
"It's a mental health issue, frankly, as well, for people to be able to disconnect from their work and connect with their family and their life."
© 2024 AFP
Factbox-The facts about Australia's new 'right to disconnect' law for employees
A person walks dogs through a park in front of the city skyline at sunrise in Sydney
A person walks dogs through a park in front of the city skyline at sunrise in Sydney
Sun, 25 Aug 2024,
By Alasdair Pal
SYDNEY (Reuters) - Australian employees now have the right to ignore their bosses outside working hours thanks to a new law which enshrines the "right to disconnect."
Here are key facts about the law, which came into force on Monday:
WHAT DOES THE LAW SAY?
Employers will still be able to contact their workers, however staff will now have the right not to respond outside working hours unless that refusal is unreasonable.
This means an employee can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contacts from an employer or a third party such as a client.
It will be up to Australia's industrial umpire, the Fair Work Commission (FWC), to decide whether a refusal is unreasonable or not. In doing so, it must take into account factors like the employee's role, the reason for the contact and how it is made.
WHAT ARE THE PENALTIES?
Employers and employees must first try and resolve disputes at work. If that fails, the FWC can intervene.
The FWC can order a company to stop contacting an employee or bar it from taking disciplinary action against workers who refuse contact, according to the Australian Industry Group.
However, it can also order an employee to respond to an employer in cases where their refusal is not reasonable.
Contravening such an order could result in fines of up A$19,000 ($12,764) for an employee or up to A$94,000 for a company.
WHAT HAS BEEN THE RESPONSE?
The law has been welcomed by unions and rights groups, who say new rights for workers are overdue.
But it has drawn criticism from employer associations who say the legislation is flawed and was rushed into law. They say it could harm productivity.
DO ANY OTHER COUNTRIES HAVE SIMILAR LAWS?
Similar laws giving employees a right to switch off their devices are already in place in France, Germany and other countries in the European Union and Latin America.
In 2018, Rentokil Initial was ordered to pay 60,000 euros by a French court for breaching an employee's 'right to disconnect' from work, after requiring him to constantly have his phone turned on in case of emergencies, according to The Telegraph.
($1 = 1.4885 Australian dollars)
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Kim Coghill)
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