Should Workers Have the ‘Right to Disconnect’?

Australia became the latest country to give employees the “right to disconnect” outside their standard working hours to support work-life balance in an “always on” digital world.

The law doesn't strictly prohibit employers from calling or messaging their workers after hours. But it does protect employees who “refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact or attempted contact outside their working hours, unless their refusal is unreasonable,” according to the Fair Work Commission, Australia's workplace relations tribunal.

Exceptions could be made depending on the seniority of the employee, their personal circumstances (including caregiving responsibilities), the reason for the contact, and how much disruption it causes them.

The law, which passed in February, took effect on Aug. 26 for most workers and will apply to small businesses of fewer than 15 people starting in August 2025.

Such laws attempt to restore boundaries between personal and professional lives, which many professionals have found to be increasingly blurred amid the rise of the smartphone and remote work.

“Clocking off used to mean something in this country,” Sen. Murray Watt, Australia's minister for employment and workplace relations, said in a statement. “It meant time with your kids, time with your friends or just time to yourself to relax. But technology has changed how many Australians work. Many workers feel pressured to remain connected to their emails and calls long after they have finished their workday.”

He added, “It should not be controversial that workers shouldn’t be required to do unpaid overtime. The right does not prohibit employers or employees contacting one another. It just means, in most circumstances, an employee does not need to respond until they are back at work.”

Opponents, including the Business Council of Australia, said the laws “risk holding Australia's historically low productivity back even further at a time when the economy is already stalling.”

More than a dozen countries — mostly across Europe and South America — have enacted laws restricting after-hours communications in workplaces in recent years, starting with France in 2016 as mental health and employee burnout have become common concerns. According to a 2023 Future Forum survey, 42% of desk workers and managers globally reported that they’ve experienced burnout.

Additionally, the Pew Research Center reported that about 55% of workers respond to emails outside of the workday. Another 28% do so frequently. 

This past May, a bill that would have made California the first state in the U.S. to give employees the “right to disconnect” — including for hourly employees — failed to pass despite a Clarify Capital survey finding that 83% of employees supported the bill.

Opponents, including the Society for Human Resource Management and the California Chamber of Commerce, cited compliance and productivity concerns, charging the bill “fails to acknowledge the nuances of industries with unique scheduling needs, irregular hours, or on-call requirements” that would reduce their responsiveness.

Opponents also felt salaried employees would lose flexibility, such as the ability to take a midday break to support their child’s needs while fulfilling their work duties after work.

“As exempt employees, we’re paid a salary for doing our work whenever we need to,” employment attorney Joy Rosenquist of Sacramento’s Littler Mendelson P.C. told Bloomberg Law. “In a weird way, it really subverts flexibility for exempt employees.”