Australia introduces a right to disconnect to help people balance work and life
Over recent years, the Australian Government has made legislative reforms to ensure the workplace relations system works better for women.
Historically, the structures that set out Australians' rights at work and govern how workplace relations decisions are made had not been designed to consider the unique experiences of women. Women are more likely to work in industries and in jobs with less security and less pay. This has made it much more difficult for women to use these structures to support their claims for equal pay and conditions such as flexible work.
Following significant legislative reforms in 2022, 2023 and 2024, a new tranche of changes have recently come into effect in August 2024. The new laws give workers greater protections around workplace conditions, job security, and their ability to balance work and life.
The reforms included a new employee right to disconnect which gives employees the right to refuse to monitor, read, or respond to employer or work-related contact out of hours, unless refusing to do so is unreasonable.
The right to disconnect is a high level right, with factors that must be considered to help determine whether an employee’s refusal to monitor, read or respond to contact is unreasonable. There are no obligations that limit employers or others from contacting or attempting to contact employees – just protections for employees who reasonably switch off. This new right elevates the importance of ‘disconnection’ from work to respond to the challenges of availability creep, unpaid labour and balancing work and care.
The right to disconnect commenced in Australia on 26 August 2024 for non-small business employers and employees. It will start for small businesses in August 2025.