Australia – Right to Disconnect: A New Era for Australian Workplaces

As part of sweeping reforms to labour regulations, the Australian Federal Government has introduced the Right to Disconnect, which is a legally enforceable workplace entitlement for employees to ignore unreasonable work contact outside their contracted hours. This reform brings Australia in line with a broader international movement toward regulating “availability creep” in an ever-connected world.

As part of sweeping reforms to labour regulations, the Australian Federal Government has introduced the Right to Disconnect, which is a legally enforceable workplace entitlement for employees to ignore unreasonable work contact outside their contracted hours. This reform brings Australia in line with a broader international movement toward regulating “availability creep” in an ever-connected world.

This reform is significant for multinational organisations operating in Australia, particularly those managing dispersed, cross-border teams. While the laws don’t ban after-hours communication, they make it clear: Australian employees cannot be expected to be always-on — and adverse consequences for enforcing availability may breach the Fair Work Act.

Here’s what businesses need to know, and what they should be doing now.

The Right (and Reason) to Disconnect

From 26 August 2024 (or from 26 August 2025 for businesses with fewer than 15 employees), employees covered by the Fair Work Act have the statutory Right to Disconnect outside of work hours — that is, the right to refuse to monitor, read, or respond to work-related contact (including calls, messages and emails), unless that refusal is unreasonable.

The key test is reasonableness — which will depend on:

• The nature and urgency of the contact;
• The employee’s role, responsibility and compensation;
• The method, frequency and timing of the communication;
• The employee’s personal circumstances (such as family or health-related matters);
• Any relevant workplace policies or enterprise agreements.

Critically, this is not a blanket restriction on employers contacting staff — but it does give employees the right to refuse work-related contact without fear of adverse consequences, provided certain conditions are met.

Risks of Non-Compliance

The Right to Disconnect constitutes a workplace right under the federal labour law system – the Fair Work system. This has the effect that employees can bring general protections claims if they’re subjected to adverse action (e.g. warnings, demotions or dismissal) for exercising it. Disputes can be escalated to the Fair Work Commission for resolution, including by binding arbitration, and employers will need to prove they acted lawfully and reasonably when challenging an employee’s refusal.

Understanding Exposure

Multinational employers and group companies are uniquely affected by the new right, due to:

• Cross-time zone collaboration creating after-hours contact by default;
• Offshore managers and leadership unaware of Australian legal obligations;
• International clients or stakeholders expecting immediate responses.

These dynamics can unintentionally create pressure on Australian-based staff to stay connected or respond out-of-hours — placing the employer at risk of breaching workplace laws if not appropriately managed.

Practical Impacts  and What to Do Now

Review and Clarify Working Hours

Employment contracts and job descriptions should define:

• Ordinary hours of work;
• Availability expectations, including compensation for on-call duties;
• Whether the nature of the role necessitates out-of-hours contact.

Employers may need to restructure hours or rostered availability for roles spanning multiple jurisdictions.

Update Internal Policies

Workplace policies should:

• Recognise the Right to Disconnect as a lawful workplace right;
• Outline what constitutes “reasonable” after-hours contact;
• Encourage respectful communication boundaries;
• Establish an internal process for raising and resolving contact-related concerns.

A standalone Right to Disconnect policy may be appropriate for larger workforces or enterprise agreement settings.

Train Managers — Locally and Globally

Australian and offshore managers must understand:

• What the Right to Disconnect means in practice;
• When contact is or isn’t reasonable;
• How to respond to employees who assert their right;
• That adverse action for asserting the right may give rise to claims under general protections provisions.

Expectations around responsiveness need to be culturally aligned and lawfully implemented.

Tweak Technology and Team Norms

Review use of tools such as Teams, Slack and email. Consider:

• Enabling “quiet hours” or notification silencing tools;
• Encouraging leadership to delay non-urgent messages (e.g. using send-later features);
• Setting shared norms for cross-time zone communication (e.g. defaulting to asynchronous updates unless urgent).

Compliance Is Only Part of the Equation

The Right to Disconnect is one of the more culturally significant reforms to Australian employment law in recent years. For multinationals, it presents both a compliance challenge and an opportunity to model respectful, sustainable working norms across borders.

The global workplace has changed — and Australia’s new laws reflect that shift.

Clyde & Co’s Corporate Advisory team is working with global clients to align contracts, policies, and operational practices with Australia’s new Right to Disconnect laws. We support legal compliance, deliver global communications training, and help manage cross-border cultural expectations in a post-reform environment.

For further advice, contact the team at Clyde & Co.