Our peak body CCIWA has provided this helpful explainer of the new Right to Disconnect Laws
If you are a member of Bunbury Geographe CCI with under 30 employees, you can utilise the CCIWA Employee Relations Advice Centre, on 08 9365 7660 or advice@cciwa.com for assistance with these changes, or if you have any questions.
What is the right to disconnect?
The changes to the Fair Work Act now include a provision where employees will have the right to disconnect and not respond to their employer after or outside work hours.
Specifically, the two rights for employees include:
- 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; and
- An employee may refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact, or attempted contact, from a third party ( such as clients, suppliers, staff from other businesses, or members of the public) if the contact or attempted contact relates to their work and is outside of the employee’s working hours, unless the refusal is unreasonable.
When working out whether an employee’s refusal is unreasonable, the following factors must be considered:
- the reason for the contact
- how the contact is made and how disruptive it is to the employee
- how much the employee is compensated or paid extra for:
- being available to perform work during the period they're contacted, or
- working additional hours outside their ordinary hours of work
- the employee’s role in the business and level of responsibility
- the employee’s personal circumstances, including family or caring responsibilities.
This change starts on:
- 26 August 2024 for non-small business employers
- 26 August 2025 for small business employers.
What will the right to disconnect look like in practical terms?
Businesses that have working from home arrangements with staff may need to consider negotiating separate flexible working arrangements to protect them from right to disconnect claims.
Employers may also need to review email systems to ensure emails sent after a certain time are only delivered during working hours the following day.
Similarly, policies and procedures may need to be developed to allow employees to receive at least some information to determine if the contact requires an after-hours response. For example, the matter is not urgent unless a phone call or text message is sent.
However, it is still unclear how the right to disconnect will interact with overtime and penalty rates.
CCIWA has also published a comprehensive and customisable Right to Disconnect policy that provides you with guidelines and structure to apply the new laws correctly in your workplace. Contact us if you require your membership details to access the member discount.
For more information contact Chris Nunn, CCIWA’s Principal HR & Learning Consultant, at Chris.Nunn@cciwa.com.
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