Australia gives millions of workers ‘right to disconnect’

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South Africa’s Minister of Electricity and Energy Kgosientsho Ramokgopa. AFP/Rodger Bosch
 
 
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SYDNEY – Australia gave millions of workers the legal right to “disconnect” on Monday, allowing them to ignore unreasonable out-of-hours contact from employers, to the distress of big industry.
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”.
The law is similar to those of some European and Latin American countries.
Unions welcomed the legislation, saying it gave workers a way to reclaim a work-life balance.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed the reform 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.”
But the reforms got a cool welcome from Australian industry leaders.
“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, enacted in February, came into force for medium-sized and large companies as of Monday.
Smaller companies with fewer than 15 employees will be covered from August 26, 2025.
Under the law, 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, it 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.