The right to disconnect in Australia
Reviewed by Mellow Editorial Team, HR & payroll content team
Workers in Australia have had a legal right to disconnect from work outside their ordinary hours since August 2024, when amendments to the Fair Work Act 2009 took effect. The right does not mean employees can simply ignore all out-of-hours contact, but it does mean employers need to think carefully about when and how they reach out.
What the right to disconnect actually says
The Fair Work Act gives employees the right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact from an employer (or a third party, such as a client) outside of their working hours — unless that refusal is unreasonable.
The key word is "unreasonable." The right is not absolute. An employee who ignores a genuine emergency call, or who has a role that explicitly requires after-hours availability, may not be able to rely on the right in the same way as someone in a standard nine-to-five position.
Factors that affect whether a refusal is unreasonable include:
- The reason for the contact
- How disruptive the contact is to the employee's personal life
- Whether the employee is compensated for being available (for example, an on-call allowance)
- The nature of the employee's role and level of responsibility
- How the contact was made
Large employers became subject to the provisions in August 2024. Small business employers (fewer than 15 employees) were given a 12-month transition period and became covered from August 2025.
What employers can and cannot do
Employers are not prohibited from sending messages or emails outside business hours. The right sits with the employee — they can choose not to respond. What the law prohibits is an employer taking adverse action against a worker for exercising that right reasonably.
In practice this means you cannot:
- Discipline or dismiss an employee for not responding to a non-urgent after-hours message
- Create a workplace culture where ignoring out-of-hours contact has implied career consequences
- Structure performance reviews in a way that penalises employees for not being perpetually available
What you can legitimately do is contact employees outside hours when there is a genuine operational need, agree with an employee (in their contract or enterprise agreement) that reasonable after-hours contact is part of their role, and compensate them accordingly for that availability.
Disputes and the Fair Work Commission
If an employee believes their right to disconnect is being infringed, or if an employer believes an employee's refusal is unreasonable, either party can apply to the Fair Work Commission (FWC) for an order.
The FWC will first attempt to resolve the dispute through conciliation. If that fails, it can make a formal order — either directing an employee to respond to certain contact, or directing an employer to stop requiring it. Failing to comply with an FWC order can lead to civil penalty proceedings.
This is a relatively new jurisdiction, so the body of decisions is still developing. Employers should watch FWC case updates over the coming months as the Commission builds out guidance on what "unreasonable" looks like in different industries and roles.
Practical steps for employers
The most sensible approach is to get ahead of the issue rather than wait for a dispute to arise.
Review your policies. If your employment contracts or policies contain expectations about after-hours responsiveness, check whether those expectations are clearly tied to the role, compensated appropriately and genuinely necessary.
Talk to your managers. The cultural side matters as much as the legal side. A manager who routinely sends late-night Slack messages — even without expecting an immediate reply — can create implicit pressure. Make it clear what is and is not expected.
Document genuine after-hours requirements. If a role legitimately requires after-hours availability (an IT on-call roster, a customer support shift, a senior manager with crisis responsibilities), record that clearly in the role description and reflect it in remuneration.
Create a simple contact protocol. Consider agreeing on what channels and timeframes are appropriate for different types of communication. "Urgent operational issues only outside business hours, via phone call" is clearer than an unspoken expectation that everyone monitors their inbox at all times.
The bigger picture
The right to disconnect sits alongside broader obligations under work health and safety law, which already require employers to manage psychosocial risks — including excessive workload and the inability to mentally detach from work. Blurring the line between work time and personal time is increasingly recognised as a risk factor for burnout and stress-related injury claims.
Getting the right to disconnect right is, at its core, about having clear, honest conversations with employees about what their role requires and making sure those requirements are reasonable, documented and fairly compensated. That is good employment practice regardless of what the legislation says.
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