The right to disconnect will commence on 26 August 2024 for most employers and 26 August 2025 for small businesses.

The right to disconnect will become a protected right under the general protections’ regime of the FW Act. This will give your employees the right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to any contact or any attempted contact that is made with them outside of their work hours either from their employer or third party.  This right includes communication such as emails, calls, texts or any other work-related messaging platforms used by the business. 

We invited Ruveni Kelleher who is a partner at JWS Lawyers specializing in employment law, to discuss the motivations behind the legislation, its objectives, protections for employees, implications for different industries, and the experiences of other countries with similar laws.

More importantly Ruveni shares what businesses need to do now to prepare for the commencement of these changes.