'Right to Disconnect' law for Australian Employees will be effective from today!

Highlights: Australian Employees get 'Right to Disconnect' law effective from today

• Australia's new 'Right to Disconnect' law is effective today, September 9, 2024.
• This 'Right to Disconnect' law allows employers to ignore work-related texts and emails outside work hours without fearing punishment.
• The 'Right to Disconnect' law rule regulation was introduced in Australia among other twenty countries, including Europe and Latin America.
• This 'Right to Disconnect' law rule is introduced to avoid intrusion of work life into the employee’s personal life.

 

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The 'Right to Disconnect' law

The 'Right to Disconnect' law is introduced to avoid work-life interference with personal life. This right allows employers to disconnect from the work life after the allotted work hours and retain a healthy lifestyle balance. The new rule is effective from September 9, 2024.

 

So, the 'Right to Disconnect' law allows employers to not be punished for refusing to read or respond to their employer's emails or texts outside work hours. This law will enable employers to stand up for the interference in to their personal lives by work emails, texts, and calls.

 

According to a recent survey, Australians work an average of 281 hours of unpaid overtime. The stats calculated the unpaid labor work to be worth A$130 billion. Australia is currently a part of this 'Right to Disconnect' law among twenty other countries, such as Europe and Latin America.

 

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Reason for the Refusal

For emergencies and jobs with irregular hours, the rule still permits employers to contact workers who can refuse to respond only if it’s reasonable. The Australian Industrial Umpire, the Fair Work Commission (FWC), will determine whether the refusal is reasonable and further consider an employee’s role, personal circumstances, and how and why the contact was made. Suppose the refusal is unreasonable or the reason to call the employer is not liable. In that case, the Fair Work Commission (FWC) has the right to issue a cease and desist order by levying fines of up to A$19,000 for an employee or up to A$94,000 for a company.

 

The Australian government also cited that the unidentified worker who finished a shift at midnight can only be texted four hours later and cannot be asked to be back at work before 6 am.

 

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