Australian govt to implement 'Right to Disconnect' Bill; Know what it is

The Australian government is making efforts to pass a bill regarding the 'right to disconnect', which has to do with not requiring employees to check work-related e-mails, messages, and calls past their work hours.

The 'right to disconnect' has become an important topic as technology has made work from home possible and it has picked up popularity post the pandemic phase. Although working from the comfort of your home has a lot of positive points, it has the downfall of working hours at times becoming flexible. This is due to work no longer being restricted to office premises. Having passed the Senate the Bill will now go to the House of Representatives as it has passed the Senate on Thursday, February 8.

What is the "Right to Disconnect' Bill?

The 'Right to Disconnect' Bill is one of many efforts being made to alter the industrial relations laws. The Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Bill, 2023 is being used to aid with the passing of the bill.

The bill states, 'An employee may refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact, or attempted contact, from an employer outside of the employee’s working hours unless the refusal is unreasonable.' Therefore, with the passing of this bill employees will be provided with legal rights to set boundaries about work hours.

Australia’s Minister for Employment and Workplace Relations Tony Burke, explains what 'unreasonable' means. It is a given that in cases special employees may be contacted by their bosses outside of their designated work hours.

The Bill mentions that certain factors will be taken into account to judge whether it was reasonable for the boss to contact the employer or not. These factors include how much the employee is compensated in case overtime work occurs, what the reason is that the employee is being contacted, and how much it disturbs the employee's daily routine.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, expressed 'Someone who’s not paid 24 hours a day shouldn’t be penalized if they’re not online and available 24 hours a day.' Here he brings up an important point regarding why legal boundaries need to be implemented so that employees are not taken for granted.

Disscussing the pros and cons of the bill:

Should we adopt Australia’s ‘right to #disconnect’ bill, which allows employees to ignore emails and phone calls from their bosses after hours? Read: https://t.co/bXriZnXFe8 @Miamiherald #happiness #burnout @jenfish23 @wohasu @karenguggenheim

— Andres Oppenheimer (@oppenheimera) February 11, 2024

Countries that adopted the concept

Countries that have put regulations in place restricting contact post working hours are France, Spain, Belgium, Portugal, Ireland, Greece, Italy, Slovakia, Luxembourg, Mexico, and Chile. Similar concepts are in pipelines in India, Kenya, and the Philippines.