Australia gave millions of workers the legal “right to disconnect” on August 26, allowing them to ignore unreasonable out-of-hours contact from employers, to the distress of big industry.
- People can now “refuse to monitor, read, or respond to” their employers’ attempts to contact them outside work hours – unless that refusal is deemed “unreasonable”.
- The law is similar to those of some European and Latin American countries.
- The law, enacted in February 2024, came into force for medium-sized and large companies on August 26.
- Smaller companies with fewer than 15 employees will be covered from August 26, 2025.
- Under the law, workers may be ordered by a tribunal to stop unreasonably refusing out-of-hours contact, and employers likewise may be ordered to stop unreasonably requiring employees to respond.
- France introduced the right to disconnect in 2017, hoping to tackle the “always on” culture facilitated by smartphones and other digital devices.
