The Right to Disconnect - What you need to know
The Right to Disconnect has been introduced as an amendment to the Fair Work Act via the legislation of the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024. The amendment is intended to protect employees from any adverse action by the Employer, where the Employee refuses to take unreasonable work calls or answer emails in their unpaid personal time.
Determining what is an “unreasonable refusal” may well be impacted by several factors, including the type of job. An example maybe, an emergency doctor on call, would be required to be contactable at different times of the day, but a retail worker may have clearly designated shifts such as working from 9am to 5pm.
The right to disconnect, and the rules that come with it, will begin on the 26 August 2024 for non-small businesses, however for small businesses that have fewer than 15 employees will have a further 12 months before implementation.
Right to Disconnect - When is refusing contact unreasonable?
According to the Commission’s direction, refusing contact may be “unreasonable” based on:
How do I handle Disputes?
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Information in HR Advice Online guides and blog posts is meant purely for educational discussion of human resources issues. It contains only general information about human resources matters and due to factors, such as government legislation changes, may not be up to date at the time of reading. It is not legal advice and should not be treated as such.
