Right to Disconnect
Overview
There has been a lot of recent news coverage about a range of changes to Workplace Laws and in particular on the “right to disconnect”
At this stage, how it will operate in practice is still not exactly known but it’s worth having a look at the rules as they stand and for you as a buisness starting to think about, how they would or could apply
Application and starting date:
Initially from Monday 26th August 2024 , these provisions only applies to businesses with more than 15 employees
For those Employers with less than 15 employees it will apply from the 2025 on the same date 26th August.
So for those larger businesses , your employees will have a new ‘right to disconnect’ outside of work hours and have the right to refuse contact outside their working hours unless the refusal is unreasonable.
? This means an employee can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact or attempted contact outside of an employee’s working hours.
? The key question initially will be, is the employee being unreasonable in “disconnecting”?
What will need to be considered/discussed?
? The reason for the contact – for example, how important is it.
领英推荐
? How the contact is made.
? 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.
What to do:
? You should set out our expectations to our employees/management.
? Consider what you currently provide as far as any extra compensation ($$) and is it linked to contact outside of normal hours
? If Award coverage, applies review the Modern Award clause (still to be finalised)
? Include clause/reference in employment letters about your expectations
If you need help on this law or some of the other new ones begin introduced, don’t hesitate to contact myself – Michael O’Shaughnessy (Mosh Management) on [email protected] or 0418 317 861