New rules around the right to disconnect starting 26 August 2024

As a business owner with 15 or more employees are you aware of the new rules that your employees have around the right to disconnect that come into effect from 26 August 2024?  If not here is a quick recap.  (Note if you are a small business with less than 15 employees, thes new rules don’t come into effect till 26 August 2025).

In effect, under the new right to disconnect laws, employees have the right to “ignore” contact out of business hours in certain circumstances.

You as a business owner or manager still have the right to contact your staff outside of business hours.  There is no law preventing you from sending an email or message at 5pm Sunday afternoon for example.

But, your employee could ignore that email or message at 5pm Sunday and not respond till Monday morning when they are at work.  And you can’t reprimand or punish them for ignoring your email or message, as long as this refusal to respond is not unreasonable.

Now you ask what is unreasonable.  There appears to be no clear cut answer here and factors that should be considered include:

• the reason for the contact
• whether the employee is compensated or paid extra for:
  • being available to be contacted to perform work within a specific period, or
  • working additional hours outside their ordinary hours of work
• the nature of the employee’s role and level of responsibility
• the employee’s personal circumstances, including family or caring responsibilities.

Contact Wayne on wayne@arealcfo.com.au or 0412 227 052.

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