A new law has been passed in Australia that will be effective in all workspaces from Monday, August 26. The law allows employees to ignore their bosses' calls outside working hours. This year, the Fair Work Amendment (Right to Disconnect) Act was passed by Parliament and will take effect on August 26. It modifies the Fair Work Act 2009.
What does the 'Right to disconnect' act do?
Australia's Right to Disconnect laws are designed to give employees the legal right to disconnect from work-related communications outside of their regular working hours.
This means that employees are not obligated to respond to emails, messages, or calls from their employer when they are off their working hours unless there's an emergency or it's part of their agreed work arrangements.
However, the law does permit situations where an employee's right to ignore is considered "unreasonable," dependent upon many factors such as role, purpose of contact, and mode of communication.
What are the factors that determine whether an employee's refusal is unreasonable?
If the employee's job role requires availability outside of standard hours (e.g., emergency services, on-call duties), refusal might be seen as unreasonable.
If there was a prior agreement between the employer and employee about availability outside of regular hours, a refusal to fulfill the agreement might be considered unreasonable.
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If responding to work-related communication outside of hours would negatively impact the employee's mental or physical health, their refusal might be seen as reasonable.
If the employee is asked to conduct meetings and calls outside work hours very frequently, their refusal would be considered reasonable. The law aims to prevent burnout, so constant interruptions during personal time may be seen as unreasonable on the employer's part.
