Just when you thought you'd finally got home from work, the boss messages you. If you're in Australia, you can now legally refuse to monitor, read or respond to that message. Photo / 123RF
Just when you thought you'd finally got home from work, the boss messages you. If you're in Australia, you can now legally refuse to monitor, read or respond to that message. Photo / 123RF
You have the right to remain silent - and to not answer your phone at all outside office hours, according to Australia’s new “right-to-disconnect” laws.
The law, which became effective in Australia this week, meant staff at non-small business employers could refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact orattempted contact outside their working hours, unless doing so was unreasonable.
“I don’t know of any intent for it to be introduced, and with the flavour of the Government we’ve got in at the moment, I can’t see it being high on their priority list,” New Zealand employment law advocate Danny Gelb told the Herald.
He said it would be difficult to apply to “mom-and-pop” business with few employees.
Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman defines a non-small business employer as one with 15 or more employees at a given time.
Gelb said the “reasonableness” aspect of the Australian law could complicate matters.
“It’s not about who’s right and who’s wrong, but who’s got the best evidence.”
He said enforcement would hinge on an employee being able to show they’d suffered a consequence of not replying to or acting on an out-of-hours communication.
Gelb said it was uncommon for employees to complain to him of after-hours harassment.
“What’s more common is employees who feel they’re obliged to answer and be available 24/7.”
He said some people might have to belatedly learn about work-life balance.
“I’m learning now to leave the phone ... and actually enjoy what I’m doing.”
He added: “What’s an emergency now often won’t be in half an hour’s time. If somebody’s life is at risk, you shouldn’t be calling your employee, you should be calling 111.”
He said people upset about being contacted after hours should not have to resort to lawsuits as a first measure.
“The first thing is actually to talk to your employer.”
EMA head of advocacy Alan McDonald says Australia's new law will most likely be ineffectual. Photo / Alex Burton
The Employers and Manufacturers’ Association (EMA) said the new Australian law was likely to be a waste of time.
“They’re welcome to it. We don’t need it here,” said EMA head of advocacy Alan McDonald.
“From our members’ point of view and from workers’ point of view, do we need yet another law in the employment space? It’s used in France as well, where it’s widely derided and abused.
“It sounds like a nice thing to do, but does it make a difference? Probably not.”
McDonald said if an employee felt unable to ask their boss to not email them at 3am or send texts outside of work hours, other rules and regulations were already available.
He said employees in doubt about their rights should be able to check their contracts, which generally spelled out some expectations about working hours.
“There are a lot of protections already.”
McDonald said that still might not stop some people from thinking a right-to-disconnect law would be good for New Zealand.
“Is it effective? Probably not.”
Professor Jarrod Haar says Australia's adoption of the new law is an interesting development for a rule seemingly previously confined to a small number of European countries.
Jarrod Haar, a professor of management and Māori business at Massey University, said “right-to-disconnect” laws spread from Portugal to France.
Haar said until Australia’s adoption of the law this week, it seemed unlikely a similar rule would ever be seriously considered in New Zealand.
Still, he was not aware of many people pushing for a right-to-disconnect law in New Zealand or advocacy groups “hollering about after-hours contact by bosses.”
He said the issue of reasonableness was frequently an annoying feature of Australian and New Zealand law because it created so many grey areas.
“If you’re on leave or away for whatever reason, you’re switched off, you don’t have access to work emails.”
Gelb said instead of being pushed into a right-to-disconnect law, these firms had instituted similar rules themselves.
And he said sometimes it was in everybody’s best interests for to staff to switch off when away from work.
“It’s your time, it’s leave time, but more importantly, if you’re not fully engaged at work, you may not be doing your work to a level you normally would be.”
John Weekes, online business editor, has covered rounds including consumer affairs, crime, court and politics for the Herald, Herald on Sunday, Stuff and News Corp Australia.
