The “Right to Disconnect”, one of the key changes under the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes) Act 2023 starts from 26 August 2024 for businesses that employ more than 15 employees. For employers that employ less than 15 employees this key change will start from 26 August 2025.
This means that eligible employees (covered by the Fair Work System including award and enterprise agreement free employees) will be given a new ‘right to disconnect’ outside of work hours.
The new right to disconnect does not prevent employers or a third party ringing an employee, texting them or sending an email outside of working hours.It does allow an employee outside of their working hours to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact (calls, texts, emails etc) or attempted contact from their employer
It’s important to note that this right also extends to a third-party contact such as a client or customer.The right to refuse cannot be exercised if the refusal is unreasonable and rules will apply when determining whether an employee’s refusal is unreasonable or not.
Employers and employees will be able to go to the Fair Work Commission to deal with disputes about this new right.
Want to find out more? Rest assured we are going to do a deeper dive into the Right to Disconnect plus other key changes to the Fair Work Act — join our free webinar here.
You can also call the Business Advice Hotline on (08) 8300 0000 (select option 1) if you are a South Australian Business Chamber Member.
