Cutting Off Communication: Australian Law Protects Employees’ Right to Disconnect

Burnout is a persistent workplace problem, with recent data finding burnout is even more pervasive throughout the public sector workforce.)

Part of the issue is employees’ hesitance to pry themselves away from their work, and the struggle that many face in truly disconnecting when they do take some sorely needed time off. For example, one recent survey saw 77% of more than 3,000 professionals saying they feel anxious about the amount of work that awaits them whenever they return from taking paid time off (PTO).

Another, more public sector-specific poll found many public sector workers hesitant to utilize their PTO in the first place, with 65% of those who do use their vacation time saying they still work while they’re technically off the clock.

Employers trying to help their people win the burnout battle here in the U.S. might want to take a page from Australia’s playbook.

Going into effect in August, a new Australian law gives the country’s workers “the right to disconnect. More specifically, the law means that, in most cases, employees throughout the sixth-largest country in the world “cannot be punished for refusing to read or respond to contacts from their employers outside work hours,” Reuters recently reported.

Australia’s Fair Work Commission (FWC) has published information on the new right, including a fact sheet that outlines what employers need to know about the law. For example, the right to disconnect protects employees who refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact or attempted contact beyond their working hours, “unless their refusal is unreasonable.”

According to FWC, this includes contact or attempted contact from their employer or another person, if the contact or attempted contact is work-related. The rule does allow employers to reach out to their workers “to cater for emergencies and jobs with irregular hours,” Reuters’ Lewis Jackson noted.

Certain factors do need to be weighed when deciding whether or not an employee’s refusal to engage outside work hours is unreasonable, such as:

• The reason for the contact or attempted contact
• How the contact or attempted contact is made and the level of disruption it causes the employee • The nature of the employee’s role and their level of responsibility
• The employee’s personal circumstances, including family or caring responsibilities
• Whether the employee is compensated or paid extra for remaining available to work when the contact or attempted contact is made, or for working additional time outside of their ordinary hours of work. Other matters may also be considered.

Employers and employees must first attempt to settle any disputes involving a worker’s right to disconnect, according to FWC, which encourages the involved parties to contact them in the event these workplace-level efforts fail to resolve the matter.

Supporters of the law note told Reuters that, in a modern environment that provides multiple ways to communicate instantly and around the clock, the new law figures to deter employers from reaching out to workers during off hours unless it’s absolutely necessary to do so.

“It’s so easy to make contact, common sense doesn’t get applied anymore,” Michele O’Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, told the worldwide media outlet. “We think this will cause bosses to pause and think about whether they really need to send that text or that email.”