The Australian workforce can ignore their boss after business hours thanks to the new ‘right to disconnect’ rule.
The Australian workforce is receiving some relief thanks to the new “right to disconnect” rule that went into effect on Aug. 26.
While the law does not ban employers from contacting their staff after normal business hours, it does give the staffer the right not to reply unless their refusal is deemed unreasonable. The new rule encourages workers and managers to work out disputes among themselves before contacting Australia’s Fair Work Commission (FWC) to step in.
“It’s really about trying to bring back some work-life balance and make sure that people aren’t racking up hours of unpaid overtime for checking emails and responding to things at a time when they’re not being paid,” Sen. Murray Watt, Australia’s minister for employment and workplace relations, said.
The Business Council of Australia agreed with Dutton and labeled the new law as a “risk holding Australia’s historically low productivity back even further at a time when the economy is already stalling.”
“These laws put Australia’s competitiveness at risk by adding more cost and complexity to the challenge of doing business, and that means less investment and fewer job opportunities,” Bran Black, the Business Council’s chief executive said.
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Source: Black Enterprise