£50,000 fines | Australian employees given 'right to disconnect' as landmark law takes effect

Workers in Australia have officially been given the ‘right to disconnect,’ after a new law about responding to out-of-hours contact from employers came into effect on Monday.

The legislation aims to improve work-life balance for employees and clamp down on unpaid work.

Under the new law, employers are not barred from contacting employees, but employees are entitled to refuse to read, monitor, or respond to communications outside of their paid hours.

Employees can ignore the communications without fear of retribution or punishment from their employer, provided it is not unreasonable.