Australians now have the right to ignore work calls and emails during free time

‘What this is really about is trying to bring back a bit more work-life balance into people’s lives,’ says workplace relations minister Murray Watt

Australian employees can now legally ignore calls and texts from managers after office hours without fear of disciplinary action thanks to their new “right to disconnect”.

With the new rules in force, a worker can refuse to read, monitor or respond to work communication outside of paid working hours, unless deemed unreasonable.

“Just as people don’t get paid 24 hours a day, they don’t have to work for 24 hours a day,” prime minister Anthony Albanese told Australian Broadcasting Corporation on Monday.

“For many Australians, I think they’re getting frustrated that they’re expected to be on their phones, their emails, all of that, for 24 hours a day,” he said. “It’s a mental health issue, frankly.”

"What this is really about is trying to bring back a bit more work-life balance into people’s lives," said workplace relations minister Murray Watt. "What we’re asking people to do is just have a bit of respect for people’s private life and recognise that they’re not being paid after hours to take those calls,” he told Sky News.

He argued that junior staff on lower salaries shouldn’t be burdened with after-hours calls for routine matters that can wait until the next day.

“I’m not a CEO, I just feel like I have a high-powered job,” part-time airline customer service worker Lizzy Grant told the Australian Associated Press.

“But really I’m just a bloody customer service officer for an airline – underpaid and overworked,” Ms Grant said.

Rachel Abdelnour, who works in advertising, said the changes would help her disconnect in an industry where clients often have different working hours.

"I think it’s actually really important that we have laws like this," she told Reuters. "We spend so much of our time connected to our phones, connected to our emails all day, and I think that it’s really hard to switch off as it is."

Supporters say the law gives workers the confidence to stand up against the steady invasion of their personal lives by work emails, texts and calls, a trend that has accelerated since the Covid-19 pandemic scrambled the division between home and work.

"Before we had digital technology there was no encroachment, people would go home at the end of a shift and there would be no contact until they returned the following day," said John Hopkins, an associate professor at Swinburne University of Technology.

"Now, globally it’s the norm to have emails, SMS, phone calls outside those hours, even when on holiday.”

“Employees will have a definitive end to their working day and no longer carry the burden of continuing to be contactable about work-related matters in their private time, unless certain reasonable exceptions apply,” Dr Gabrielle Golding from the University of Adelaide told the Guardian.

“This result signals a momentous societal shift in the value placed on work and similarly on wellbeing and private time.”

Australians worked on average 281 hours of unpaid overtime in 2023, according to a survey last year by the Australia Institute, which estimated the monetary value of the labour at A$130bn (£66bn).

The changes add Australia to a group of roughly two dozen countries, mostly in Europe and Latin America, which have similar laws.

The new rule allows employers to contact employees for emergencies or irregularly scheduled work, but employees can refuse if reasonable. However, in case of dispute, an employee can raise the matter to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) that will determine reasonableness based on factors like role, personal circumstances, and contact method.

Non-compliance may result in fines up to A$19,000 (£14,399) for individuals or A$94,000 (£71,237) for companies. The Australian Industry Group criticised the rule’s ambiguity as it predicted confusion, reduced flexibility, and economic slowdown.

"The laws came literally and figuratively out of left field, were introduced with minimal consultation about their practical effect and have left little time for employers to prepare," the group said on Thursday.

The president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions Michele O’Neil said the caveat built into the law meant it won’t interfere with reasonable requests. Instead, it will stop workers paying the price for poor planning by management, she said.

She cited an unidentified worker who finished a shift at midnight, only to be texted four hours later and told to be back at work by 6am.

"It’s so easy to make contact, common sense doesn’t get applied anymore," she said.

"We think this will cause bosses to pause and think about whether they really need to send that text or that email."

Additional reporting by agencies