Australia introduced a new "right to disconnect" law, allowing employees to refuse work-related communications outside their scheduled work hours without fear of punishment.
The law aims to improve work-life balance and reduce unpaid overtime, which averages 281 hours per year for Australian workers.
Factors such as the reason for contact, disruptiveness, compensation for availability, and the employee's role can influence the reasonableness of refusing to respond to work communications outside work hours.
The Fair Work Commission (FWC) can intervene in disputes between employers and employees, and can order employers to stop contacting employees after hours or employees to reply if deemed unreasonable. Failure to comply with FWC orders can result in fines up to A$19,000 for an employee or A$94,000 for a company.
Unions and the Australian government have welcomed the legislation, stating it gives workers a way to reclaim work-life balance and emphasizing the importance of disconnecting from work for mental health and family time.
Some employers expressed concerns about enforcing the new rules and their impact on work culture and productivity.
The "right to disconnect" law is modeled after similar regulations in certain European and Latin American nations.
The law aims to address the issue of "availability creep" and prevent the intrusion of work into employees' personal time and work-life balance, except in emergencies or for irregular work.
The law aims to address the blurring boundaries between professional and personal lives due to digital communications and remote working, reducing pressure on workers to be constantly available. The Labor Party believes this new measure will prompt a shift in work culture towards more efficient and smarter approaches to work.
The new workplace laws are criticized by businesses as a 'hellishly complex minefield' that may create challenges by introducing costly industrial red tape, potentially impacting workplace flexibility, harmony, and overall productivity.
Australia joins about two dozen countries globally that have similar regulations for the right to disconnect.
France introduced a similar 'right to disconnect' in 2017 to address the 'always on' culture. The French law allows employees to refuse to respond to work communications outside of scheduled hours if it's deemed reasonable; employers can contact employees outside of work hours in emergencies or when job nature requires irregular hours.
This article was written in collaboration with Generative AI news company Alchemiq
Sources: The Guardian, BBC, Al Jazeera, Times of India, Yahoo, ABC, ETV Bharat, The Age, The Australian, The Sydney Morning Herald, The Japan Times, News18, Inshorts, The Jakarta Post, Faharas, Herald Sun, News.com.au, NewsX.