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Australia gave millions of workers the legal right to \u201cdisconnect\u201d on Monday, allowing them to ignore unreasonable out-of-hours contact from employers, to the distress of big industry.<\/p>\n
People can now \u201crefuse to monitor, read, or respond to\u201d their employers\u2019 attempts to contact them outside work hours\u2014unless that refusal is deemed \u201cunreasonable\u201d.<\/p>\n
The law is similar to those of some European and Latin American countries.<\/p>\n
Unions welcomed the legislation, saying it gave workers a way to reclaim a work-life balance.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday is a historic day for working people,\u201d said Michele O\u2019Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe union movement has won the legal right for Australians to spend quality time with their loved ones without the stress of being forced to constantly answer unreasonable work calls and emails,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAustralian unions have reclaimed the right to knock off after work.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed the reform pushed through by his centre-left Labor government.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe want to make sure that just as people don\u2019t get paid 24 hours a day, they don\u2019t have to work for 24 hours a day,\u201d he told national broadcaster ABC.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt\u2019s 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
But the reforms got a cool welcome from Australian industry leaders.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe \u2018right to disconnect\u2019 laws are rushed, poorly thought out and deeply confusing,\u201d the Australian Industry Group said in a statement.<\/p>\n
\u201cAt 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,\u201d it said.<\/p>\n
The law, enacted in February, came into force for medium-sized and large companies as of Monday.<\/p>\n
Smaller companies with fewer than 15 employees will be covered from August 26, 2025.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe encourage workplace participants to educate themselves on the right to disconnect and take a commonsense approach to applying it within their workplace,\u201d said the head of Australia\u2019s workplace relations regulator, Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth.<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
The question of what is reasonable will \u201cdepend on the circumstances\u201d, the fair work ombudsman said in a statement.<\/p>\n
Deciding factors may include the reason for the contact, the nature of the employee\u2019s role, and their compensation for working extra hours or being available, it said.<\/p>\n
France introduced the right to disconnect in 2017, hoping to tackle the \u201calways on\u201d culture facilitated by smartphones and other digital devices.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n