Ever get an email or phone call from your boss at home just as you're settling down to binge-watch your favorite show? If you're in Australia, you are now free to ignore that after-hours communication. A "right to disconnect" rule is now in play for workers as of Monday, which doesn't outright bar employers from contacting employees after they've clocked out. Instead, it simply says employees have no obligation to respond, and can't be penalized if they don't, "unless their refusal is deemed unreasonable," per the BBC.
Although workers and their employers should try to work out any conflict over this themselves, if they can't, they're to seek resolution from Australia's Fair Work Commission. Workers who don't comply with the FWC's eventual ruling can be hit with a fine of up to $13,000, while employers could see a penalty of nearly $64,000. More than 20 nations, mainly in Europe and Latin America, have similar rules. With Aussie staffers putting in, on average, more than 280 hours of unpaid overtime annually, experts say the new rule will "empower workers," as well as help employers in the long run.
"Today is a historic day for working people," says Michele O'Neil, head of the Australian Council of Trade Unions, per Deutsche Welle. "Australian unions have reclaimed the right to knock off after work." Others aren't on board. "The laws came literally and figuratively out of left field, were introduced with minimal consultation about their practical effect, and have left little time for employers to prepare," says the Australian Industry Group, which represents employers, per Reuters. One worker in the financial industry, meanwhile, shrugs at the effort, though he approves of the concept. "I doubt it'll catch on in our industry," he tells the news agency, per the BBC. "We're well paid, we're expected to deliver, and we feel we have to deliver 24 hours a day." (More Australia stories.)
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