It is a social right that is gaining more and more ground in the world. After France in 2017, Spain in 2018 and Belgium in 2022, Australia will see a law on the “right to disconnect” come into force this Monday. Employees can now “refuse to monitor, read or respond” to requests from their employers outside of their working hours, unless this period is “reasonable”. Adopted in February, it applies to medium and large companies.
“Today is a historic day for workers,” said Michele O’Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. Australians will be able to “spend quality time with their loved ones without the stress of constantly having to respond to unreasonable work calls and messages,” she added.
Employer skepticism
The Australian Industry Group, an employers’ group, has expressed concern, calling “right to disconnect laws” “rushed, ill-conceived and deeply confusing”. “Employers and employees will no longer know whether they can accept or make an out-of-hours call to offer overtime,” it said.
“We encourage workers to educate themselves about the right to disconnect and take a sensible approach to implementing it in their workplace,” said Anna Booth of the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO), an independent Australian agency that enforces laws and regulates workplace relationships. Judging what is reasonable “will depend on the circumstances,” the FWO said in a statement. Determining factors could include the reason for the contact or the nature of the employee’s role.
“We want to make sure that because people aren’t getting paid 24 hours a day, they don’t have to work 24 hours a day,” Labor Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, whose government introduced the new law, told public television. “It’s also about mental health, frankly, that people can disconnect from their work and get back to their families and their lives.” Businesses with fewer than 15 employees have been given extra time and won’t be required to implement the law until August 26, 2025.
With AFP
