By Lewis Jackson

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Does your boss text you at the weekend? Or does your work email account keep beeping long after you’ve left for home?

Australian workers can now ignore these and other disruptions to their personal lives, thanks to a new “right to switch off” law designed to curb the intrusion of work emails and calls into their personal lives.

The new rule, which came into force on Monday, means that in most cases employees cannot be penalized for refusing to read or respond to messages from their employer outside of working hours.

Supporters say the law gives workers the confidence to fight back against the constant invasion of their personal lives by work emails, texts and phone calls, a trend that has accelerated since the COVID-19 pandemic blurred the line between personal life and work.

“Before digital technology, there were no assaults. People went home at the end of their shift and had no contact until they came back the next day,” says John Hopkins, associate professor at Swinburne University of Technology.

“It is now the norm worldwide to receive emails, texts and calls outside of these hours, even when on vacation.”

According to a survey conducted by the Australia Institute last year, Australians will work an average of 281 hours of unpaid overtime in 2023. The monetary value of these hours of work was estimated at 130 billion Australian dollars (88 billion US dollars).

The changes put Australia in a group of around two dozen countries – mostly in Europe and Latin America – that have similar laws.

Pioneer France introduced the rules in 2017 and a year later fined pest control company Rentokil Initial 60,000 euros ($66,700) for requiring its employees to keep their phones on at all times.

Rachel Abdelnour, who works in advertising, said the changes would help her gain distance in an industry where clients often work different hours.

“I think it’s really important that we have laws like this,” she told Reuters. “We spend so much time on our phones, on our emails all day, and I think it’s already very hard to switch off.”

Refusals must be reasonable

To cover emergencies and jobs with irregular working hours, the regulation still allows employers to contact their employees, who may refuse to respond only if it is reasonable to do so.

The decision as to whether a refusal is appropriate rests with the Australian employment arbitrator, the Fair Work Commission (FWC), taking into account the employee’s role, personal circumstances and the manner and reason for the contact.

It has the power to issue a cease and desist order and, failing that, to impose fines of up to A$19,000 for an employee and up to A$94,000 for a company.

The story continues

But employers’ organisation Australian Industry Group said the lack of clarity about how the rule would apply would cause confusion among employers and employees, making jobs less flexible and slowing the economy, it added.

“The laws came literally and figuratively out of the blue, were introduced with minimal consultation on their practical implications and left employers little time to prepare,” the group said on Thursday.

Australian Federation of Trade Unions president Michele O’Neil said the caveat in the bill meant it would not stand in the way of reasonable demands. Instead, it would prevent workers paying the price for poor planning by management, she said.

She cited an unidentified worker who finished his shift at midnight and received a text message four hours later telling him to be back at work at 6 a.m.

“It’s so easy to make contact, common sense is no longer used at all,” she said.

“We believe this will make bosses stop and think about whether they really need to send that text or email.”

(1 dollar = 0.8992 euros)

(1 US dollar = 1.4723 Australian dollars)

(Reporting by Lewis Jackson; Editing by Kim Coghill)