A new Australian law protects workers who fail to respond to work-related messages outside of working hours, with some exceptions.
Getty Images
hide legend
toggle caption
Getty Images
Millions of Australians have just been given official permission to ignore their bosses outside of work hours, thanks to a new law enshrining their “right to disconnect”.
The law doesn’t strictly prohibit employers from calling or texting employees outside of work hours. But it does protect employees who “refuse to monitor, read, or respond to contacts or attempted contacts outside of work hours, unless their refusal is unreasonable,” according to the law. Fair work CommissionEmployment Relations Tribunal of Australia.
This includes raising awareness with their employer, as well as others “if the contact or attempted contact is work-related.”
The law, passed in February, came into force on Monday. for most workers and will apply to small businesses with fewer than 15 people from August 2025. It adds Australia to a growing list of countries aiming to protect workers’ time off.
“It’s really about trying to restore some work-life balance and making sure people aren’t accumulating unpaid overtime checking emails and responding to things at a time when they’re not being paid,” he said. Sfr. Murray WattAustralian Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations.
The law, however, does not give employees a complete pass.
The law states that a person’s refusal to answer will be considered unreasonable. under certain conditionstaking into account the employee’s length of service, personal circumstances (including caring responsibilities), the reason for the contact and the degree of disruption it causes to the employee.
The FWC says employers and employees should first try to resolve any dispute on their own initiative, but may apply to the FWC for a “stop order” or other measures if their discussions fail.
“In an emergency, employees obviously expect them to respond to that kind of situation,” Watt said. “But if it’s a mundane situation, they should wait until the next business day, so employees can actually enjoy their personal lives, spend time with family and friends, play sports or do whatever they want after hours, without feeling like they’re chained to their desk at a time when they’re not actually getting paid, because that’s just not fair.”
Protective measures aim to address erosion of work-life balance
Supporters of the law hope it will help solidify the lines between personal and professional, which have become increasingly blurred with the rise of remote work since the COVID-19 pandemic.
A 2022 survey by the Australia Institute’s Centre for Future Work, a public policy think tank, found that seven in 10 Australians were working outside their scheduled working hours, with many reporting physical fatigue, stress and anxiety as a result.
The following year, the institute reported that Australians worked an average of 281 hours of unpaid overtime in 2023. Valued at the average wage rate, it estimated that the average worker was losing the equivalent of almost US$7,500 each year.
“This is particularly worrying as workers’ share of national income remains at historically low levels, wage growth is not keeping pace with inflation and the cost of living is rising,” he added.
The Australian Council of Trade Unions hailed the new law as a “cost of living victory for workers”, particularly those in sectors such as education, community services and administrative work.
The right to disconnect, he said, would not only reduce Australians’ unpaid hours of work, but also address the “growing crisis of mental illness and injury in modern workplaces”.
“More money in your pocket, more time with your loved ones and more freedom to live your life: that’s the right to disconnect,” said ACTU President Michele O’Neil. said in a statement.
However, not everyone is happy about the change.
Australian opposition leader Peter Dutton has already has committed to repeal the right to disconnect if his coalition wins the next federal election in 2025. He denounced the right as damaging to employer-employee relations and described it as a threat to productivity.
The Business Council of Australia echoed these concerns in a statement released Mondaysaying the new workplace laws “risk further dampening Australia’s historically low productivity at a time when the economy is already at a standstill”.
“These laws put Australia’s competitiveness at risk by adding more costs and complexity to the challenge of doing business, meaning less investment and fewer job opportunities,” said Bran Black, chief executive of the Business Council.
The Australia Institute’s 2022 survey, however, found broad support for the right to disconnect.
Only 9% of respondents said such a policy would have no positive impact on their lives. The rest cited a range of positive effects, from more social and family time to better mental health and greater job satisfaction. Thirty percent of respondents said it would allow them to be more productive during working hours.
Eurofound, the European Union agency for the improvement of living and working conditions, said in a 2023 study that workers at companies with a right-to-disconnect policy reported a better work-life balance than those without one – 92% versus 80%.
Could the trend reach the United States?
Australia is far from the first country to adopt this type of protection for workers.
More than a dozen countries — mainly across Europe and South America — have enacted some version of the right to disconnect in recent years, starting with France in 2017. Others are exploring various possible solutions to burnout, including four day work week.
The right to disconnect has not yet reached the United States.
A San Francisco congressman bill earlier this year — inspired by Australia — that would give workers the right to disconnect outside of work, with violations punishable by a fine.
California would become the first state in the nation to do so, but its future is uncertain. The bill has been criticized by business groups and set aside in committee this spring.
