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Ever get fed up of your manager calling you up? Well Australia is set to introduce laws giving workers the right to hang up on their bosses.
There will even be potential fines for employers who breach the rules and call workers up outside of work hours.
The ‘right to disconnect’ is part of a raft of changes proposed by government to protect workers rights and restore a healthy work-life balance.
It gives employees the right not to work unpaid overtime through a right to disconnect from unreasonable contact of hours.
It has been supported by the majority of senators, employment minister Tony Burke from the centre-left Labor party confirmed.
Australia isn’t the first place to introduce this though because countries like France, Spain, and other EU countries already allow their workers to switch off.
Sydney resident Colvin Macpherson welcomed the news and said: ‘Oh I think it’s a wonderful idea. I think we need to have our switch off time.
‘We all need to relax, we all need to be able to switch off and not be disturbed by emails and phone calls in the middle of the night.
Ivan Karajas said he thinks it is a good idea (Picture: Reuters)
‘Both of my kids are lawyers as well, so they sort of work horrendous hours as it is and you get things coming in at night time.
‘We all need to be able to switch off and relax. We’re not machines, we’re people.’
Another Sydney resident Ivan Karajas agreed and said: ‘In general, I think the idea that you should be able to switch off when you get to the end of your work day and when you’re at home doing your own thing over the weekend or on leave, that seems like a generally pretty reasonable thing to me.’
Prime minister Anthony Albanese said: ‘What we are simply saying is that someone who isn’t being paid 24 hours a day shouldn’t be penalised if they’re not online and available 24 hours a day.’
The bill will also include other provisions like a clearer pathway from temporary to permanent work and minimum standards for temporary workers and truck drivers.
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Some politicians, employer groups and corporate leaders feel it undermines the move towards flexible working and will impact competitiveness.
But Fiona Macdonald from Centre For Future Work said: ‘It shouldn’t do that. I think one of the fears that has been expressed by some businesses and employer groups is that, it’s a return to some kind of former rigid working arrangements. That’s not it really.
‘I think it’s come about because we have more flexible work, it’s just addressing the fact that that’s kind of, in some industries and for some employees that has just grown without any rules around it, without any boundaries to it.’
Greens leader Adam Bandt welcomed the news on Twitter and said: ‘Australians work an average of six weeks unpaid overtime each year.
‘That equated to more than A$92 billion (£48 billion) in unpaid wages across the economy.
‘That time is yours. Not your boss’s.’
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