Millions of small business workers now have the right to legally disconnect from work after a federal government legislation change officially kicked in.
The right to disconnect employment law will capture small businesses with 14 employees and under from today.
Under the new rules, staff can’t be punished for reasonably ignoring after hours calls, text messages or emails from the boss.
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Work-related contact under this law applies to employers as well as third parties such as clients or business partners.
Employees also can’t be disciplined or let go for refusing contact outside of work hours.
The same rule has applied to big businesses for the past year.
According to the ABS, over five million people were employed by a small business in Australia in 2022.
The ABS Counts of Australian Business reported 97.2 per cent of total businesses in the country had under 20 employees.
There are some exceptions to the right to disconnect.
While employees can refuse contact from employers where reasonable, what counts as reasonable is up to interpretation.
Several factors must be taken into consideration when deciding what is reasonable, including but not limited to the reason for the contact, whether an employee is compensated for after-hours work and an employee’s personal circumstances.
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Workers with a reasonable additional hours clause already in their employment contract may not be able to invoke the new protections.
If an employee feels these rights have been violated they should raise it first with their employer, then with the Fair Work Commission if internal mediation doesn’t work.
Employers found to be in violation of the new laws can be fined up to $18,000.
Since the legislation came into effect for bigger businesses last year, research recently found more than half of all employers have been approached by staff exercising their right to disconnect.
Recruitment agency Robert Half found 56 per cent of surveyed employers reported formal complaints from staff wanting to use their right, while 15 per cent reported informal feedback or comments.
Small to medium businesses were found to have received 11 per cent more concerns from staff than large businesses.
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