In Australia, there is a ban on contact with your superior. Violations can result in severe penalties.
Earlier this year, the country introduced a law that gave workers what many longed for: the ability to ignore their boss after work.
The law, passed in February and coming into effect on Monday, includes what’s known as the “right to disconnect.” If millions of Australian workers are unplugged, their phones might as well join the weird, oversized Australian fish. In this newly revealed world of work, most workers can’t be penalized for not responding to their bosses outside of work hours.
Employers can contact an employee after working hours, but don’t expect them to respond. The legislation “protects employees who refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact or attempts to contact them outside of their working hours unless their refusal is unreasonable,” according to press materials from Australia’s Fair Work Commission (FWC).
The FWC will decide which disputes are inappropriate, based on factors including the nature of the employment relationship, the reason for the contact and whether an employee is paid overtime.
If a worker is found to be blowing up their line unnecessarily, the FWC can impose fines of up to A$19,000 for an individual employee and up to A$94,000 for a company, according to Reuters. Across the ocean, that equates to nearly A$13,000 for managers and A$63,700 for a guilty company.
Australia isn’t the only country that has recently tried to help its employees maintain their work-life balance. In 2017, France introduced the right to disconnect and meant business: a pest control company was fined €60,000 just a year later for not following the law.
Since then, such laws have gained traction in parts of South America and elsewhere in Europe. In the shadow of the pandemic, as teleworking became more common, these rules became more frequent and urgent. While employees no longer have the same strict working hours, their schedules are more fuzzy and sometimes lead to even longer work days than before. In short, the boundaries have dissolved.
And in the U.S., overtime pay has been cut so much that workers now average nine unpaid hours of overtime per week, according to a 2021 ADP survey. There are no “right to turn off” rules in the U.S., although California recently introduced legislation to that effect.
With the advent of Zoom, Slack, and all the corporate accoutrements that set off a little ding that elicits the opposite of a Pavlovian response from an office worker, it’s perhaps easier than ever to get in touch. And it’s simply a modern phenomenon that needy bosses have your number.
“It’s so easy to get in touch that common sense no longer applies,” Michele O’Neil, president of the Australian Federation of Trade Unions, told Reuters. “We think this will make bosses stop and think about whether they really need to send that text or email.”
She described the recent passage of the law as “a historic day for the working population,” although not everyone is jumping for joy, especially not the employers’ representatives.
“The ‘right to switch off’ laws are rushed, ill-conceived and deeply confusing,” the Australian Industry Group said in a statement carried by AFP, warning that scheduling additional shifts after working hours would be confusing for workers.
Whatever the case, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese is likely to be pleased on this Australian winter day.
“All we’re saying is that someone who isn’t paid 24/7 shouldn’t be penalized for not being online and available 24/7,” he said back in February.
