Right To Disconnect Law: Employees In Australia Can Now Ignore Bosses After Work Hours
Often, employees are called back to work after their work hours are over due to the urgency of the task.
However, this can be a thing of the past after a new law, which will come into effect in Australia, allows employees to ignore bosses after work hours.
With the enactment of the “Right to Disconnect Law,” Australia is set to become the first country to pass a law allowing employees the ‘right to ignore’ their bosses beyond their working hours.
The new law empowers employees to refuse to monitor, read, or respond to employer communications outside of work hours.
The law was passed in February and comes into effect on August 26, 2024, according to Forbes Australia.
The law was passed to ensure the well-being of their working people in a world that’s constantly connected.
The COVID-19 pandemic led to the burgeoning of work-from-home culture, and often employees, especially from the IT industry, are forced to complete tasks from home beyond their work hours.
What was once a dream of employees to see their HR ask bosses to respect their time will finally see realization.
Adam Bandt, Leader of the Australian Greens, in his statement after the second reading of the bill, said,
“For too long, the boundaries between work and life have been blurred, continuous connection to work has been normalized, and the pressure to be available at all hours of the day and night has been building for working people across the country.”
Adam Bandt further stated that workers are expected to be available 24/7 to answer emails, take calls, and be available to their employers at a moment’s notice.
He also stated that the Senate Work and Care Committee has labelled the practice as ‘availability creep.’
However, delving deeper, there are situations where the law doesn’t apply, for example in situations where the contact is not disruptive or when the employee is compensated or paid extra to work for added hours depending on the employee’s role and level of responsibilities.
It is interesting to note that Australia is not the first nation where such laws have been enacted, and similar laws exist in France, Germany, and other countries in the EU where any employee can switch off their cell phones post working hours.
The law faced stiff resistance from employer groups during its passage through parliament earlier this year, and critics have called the passage of the law as rushed and flawed.
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