Millions of Australians have just been given official permission to ignore their boss outside of work hours thanks to a new law enshrining their “right to switch off.”

The law does not strictly prohibit employers from calling or messaging their employees after hours. But it does protect employees who “refuse to monitor, read, or respond to contacts or attempts to contact them outside of their work hours unless their refusal is unreasonable,” the Fair work CommissionAustralia’s Industrial Relations Tribunal.

This also includes contact by the employer and by other persons, “provided the contact or attempted contact is work-related”.

The law, passed in February, came into force on Monday. for most employees and will apply to small businesses with fewer than 15 employees from August 2025. This puts Australia in a long list of countries that want to protect their employees’ leisure time.

“It’s really about restoring some work-life balance and making sure people aren’t doing unpaid overtime because they’re checking emails and responding to things while they’re not getting paid,” said Sde. Murray WattAustralia’s Minister for Employment and Industrial Relations.

However, the law does not give employees a complete free pass.

The law states that a person’s refusal to answer is considered unreasonable under certain conditionstaking into account the employee’s length of service, his or her personal circumstances (including care responsibilities), the reason for making contact and the disruption caused to him or her by this.

The FWC demands that employers and employees must first try settle any disputes However, they can apply to the FWC for a stop order or other action if their talks are unsuccessful.

“If it’s an emergency situation, of course people expect an employee to respond to something like that,” Watt said. “But if it’s a normal business, then they should wait until the next workday so people can enjoy their personal lives, spend time with their family and friends, exercise or whatever they want to do after work without feeling like they’re tied to a desk while they’re not even getting paid, because that’s just not fair.”

Protective measures aim to worsen the work-life balance

Supporters of the law hope it will help solidify the line between personal and professional life, which has become increasingly blurred since the COVID-19 pandemic with the increase in teleworking.

A 2022 survey by the Centre for Future Work at the Australia Institute, a public policy think tank, found that seven in 10 Australians worked outside of scheduled working hours, with many of them reporting that it caused them physical fatigue, stress and anxiety.

The following year, the institute reported that Australians had worked an average of 281 hours of unpaid overtime by 2023. When evaluating this work using average wages, the institute estimated that the average worker loses the equivalent of almost $7,500 each year as a result.

“This is particularly worrying as workers’ share of national income remains at historically low levels, wage growth is not keeping pace with inflation and the cost of living is rising,” it continues.

The Australian Federation of Trade Unions welcomed the new law as “a victory in reducing the cost of living for working people”, particularly in teaching, social services and administration.

The right to disconnect will not only reduce Australians’ unpaid working hours, but will also address the “growing crisis of increasing mental ill health and injury in modern workplaces,” it said.

“More money in your pocket, more time with your loved ones and more freedom to live your own life – that’s what the right to switch off is all about,” said ACTU President Michele O’Neil. said in a statement.

However, not everyone is happy about the change.

Australian opposition leader Peter Dutton has already promised the abolition the right to shut down if his coalition wins the next federal election in 2025. He has branded this as damaging to industrial relations and portrayed it as a threat to productivity.

The Business Council of Australia raised these concerns in a Statement published on Mondayand said the new labour laws “risk further declining Australia’s historically low productivity at a time when the economy is already stagnating.”

“These laws threaten Australia’s competitiveness by making economic challenges more expensive and complex. That means less investment and fewer jobs,” said Bran Black, chief executive of the business council.

However, the Australia Institute’s 2022 poll found broad support for the right to switch off.

Only 9 percent of respondents said that such a rule would not have a positive impact on their lives. And the rest cited a whole range of positive effects, from more time for social contacts and family to better mental health and job satisfaction. Thirty percent of respondents said that it would enable them to be more productive during working hours.

Eurofound, the European Union agency for improving living and working conditions, found in a 2023 study that workers in companies with a right to disconnect from work had a better work-life balance than those without this right – 92% versus 80%.

Could the trend reach the USA?

Australia is by no means the first country to introduce this type of worker protection.

More than a dozen countries – mainly throughout Europe and South America — have introduced some version of the right to switch off in recent years, starting with France in 2017. Others are exploring various possible solutions to burnout, including Four-day week.

In the USA, the right to shut down the Internet has not yet arrived.

A congressman from San Francisco Legislative proposals At the beginning of the year, a law was passed – following the example of Australia – giving employees the right to disconnect from the network outside of working hours, with violations punishable by a fine.

This would make California the first state in the country to do so, but its future is uncertain. The bill has been criticized by business groups and postponed in committee this spring.

Copyright: NPR