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Agence France-Presse

Australia gave millions of workers the legal right to “disconnect” on Monday, allowing them to ignore unreasonable out-of-hours calls, emails and texts from their bosses.
People can now refuse to monitor, read, or respond to their employers’ attempts to contact them outside work hours – unless that refusal is deemed “unreasonable”.
Unions welcomed the legislation, saying it gave workers a way to reclaim some work-life balance.
“Today is a historic day for working people,” said Michele O’Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions. “Australian unions have reclaimed the right to knock off after work,” she said.
In the streets of Sydney, people appeared to welcome the change.

“I have a very hard time disconnecting and even though I may not necessarily be logged on, my brain is constantly working overtime,” said not-for-profit worker Karolina Joseski.
“So getting that after-hour call from my boss doesn’t necessarily help.”
But the reform got a cool welcome from Australia’s top industry body.
“The ‘right to disconnect’ laws are rushed, poorly thought out and deeply confusing,” the Australian Industry Group said in a statement.
“At the very least, employers and employees will now be uncertain about whether they can take or make a call out of hours to offer an extra shift,” it said.
We want to make sure that just as people don’t get paid 24 hours a day, they don’t have to work for 24 hours a day
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese
The law is similar to those of some European and Latin American countries.
Research indicates that the right to disconnect benefits employees, said University of Sydney associate professor Chris Wright.
More than 70 per cent of workers in European Union companies with a right to disconnect policy considered its impact to be positive, according to a November 2023 study by the EU work-related agency Eurofound.
Employees are experiencing “availability creep” as smartphones and other digital devices put them in reach of their employers, Wright said.
“Having a measure that restores to some extent the boundary between people’s work and non-work lives is a positive thing, certainly for employees but also for employers,” he said, particularly in industries trying to lure new workers.

The Australian law, enacted in February, came into force for medium-sized and large companies as of Monday.
Smaller firms with fewer than 15 employees will be covered from August 26, 2025.
The head of Australia’s workplace relations regulator, Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth, said people should take a “commonsense approach” to applying the new law.
Under the legislation, workers may be ordered by a tribunal to stop unreasonably refusing out-of-hours contact, and employers likewise may be ordered to stop unreasonably requiring employees to respond, the regulator said.
The question of what is reasonable will “depend on the circumstances”, the Fair Work Ombudsman said in a statement.
Deciding factors may include the reason for the contact, the nature of the employee’s role, and their compensation for working extra hours or being available, it said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed the reform, which was pushed through by his centre-left Labor government.
“We want to make sure that just as people don’t get paid 24 hours a day, they don’t have to work for 24 hours a day,” he told national broadcaster ABC.
“It’s a mental health issue, frankly, as well, for people to be able to disconnect from their work and connect with their family and their life.”


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Australia

Australians now have legal right to ignore work calls, emails after hours

Australia follows nations such as France, Spain and Belgium in introducing “right to disconnect laws” to protect workers from unreasonable contact. Photo: Shutterstock

 Unions welcomed the legislation, saying it gave workers a way to reclaim some work-life balance. Photo: Shutterstock

Observers say employees are experiencing “availability creep” as digital devices put them in reach of their employers round the clock. Photo: Shutterstock

Chinese students’ suicides in Australia highlight mental health crisis amid ‘extreme isolation’

Suicides or attempted suicides among international students in Australia have become a worrying trend, experts say. Photo: Shutterstock

Xiaoting Wang, a Chinese student who died in Sydney last week. Photo: New South Wales Police

Police gather outside a Sydney building last year after a suicide. Photo: WeChat

Public investigations have revealed recurring themes of isolation and struggles with a new culture and language. Photo: Shutterstock

Domestic politics can negatively affect how students are treated on and off campus resulting in discrimination. Photo: Shutterstock.

Singapore’s education culture has to change alongside gifted programme revamp: experts

Pupils leave school after class in Singapore. The education ministry has tried to make the system fairer and less stressful for students, experts say. Photo: Xinhua

Singapore Prime Minister Lawrence Wong delivers his National Day Rally address on August 18. Photo: EPA-EFE / Singapore’s Ministry of Digital Development and Information 

Children walk home with their guardians after school in Singapore in May 2021. Photo: AFP

Primary school students on their way to school in Singapore in June 2020. Photo: Xinhua

IB examiners’ plans to clamp down on ‘time zone cheats’ will fail: Hong Kong expert, pupils

Plans to crack down on IB exam “time zone cheats” will be unsuccessful, Hong Kong education expert says. Photo: Shutterstock

The International Baccalaureate offices on the Cardiff Gate business park in Wales. Photo: Shutterstock

News

Asia

Australasia

Employers could face fines of up to US$63,000 for getting in touch with an employee for non-essential reasons outside working hours


Employers could face fines of up to US$63,000 for getting in touch with an employee for non-essential reasons outside working hours.


Mental health