FREE READ: Beyond 9 to 5: Balancing the Right to Disconnect, Additional Work Hours and Out of Hours Contact
FREE READ: Beyond 9 to 5: Balancing the Right to Disconnect, Additional Work Hours and Out of Hours Contact
Subject: Legal CPD | Employment Law CPD
Author: Gemma Sharp, Special Counsel, Cooper Grace Ward
Australians work long hours. In 2023, Australian employees worked an average of 280 hours of unpaid overtime. This includes the time employees spent staying late, working through their breaks, working weekends and taking calls and emails outside of their ordinary hours.
With remote working arrangements and four-day work weeks becoming increasingly common, many employees are looking for working arrangements that maximise their time out of the office and minimise unpaid hours.
Workplace laws are beginning to address the idea of the work/life balance, seeking ways to limit the amount of unpaid work performed by Australians.
With this in mind, a ‘right to disconnect’ has been inserted into the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FWA) which will take effect this year. This right will allow employees to reasonably refuse to monitor, read or respond to out of hours contact (right to disconnect).
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