From today, plenty of Australian workers will be looking forward to switching off.
That’s when the new “right to disconnect” laws come in, meaning employers can’t punish workers who refuse to pick up the phone out of hours.
Except they still can, under certain conditions.
The Covid pandemic exacerbated the blurring of lines between work lives and private lives. Work already followed people home on their laptops, smartphones and other devices. Working from home meant that work was in the home all the time.
I was one of those people who always felt compelled to respond. I felt like it was easier to solve a problem or need sooner than later.
The flip side is that businesses should fully expect that their remote workers are working and available, during office hours. So many remote workers are goofing off during the day and doing their work during odd times. If one chooses to work in the evenings and one’s employer is attempting contact during office hours, response to those communications should be during office hours, not at one’s convenience.
The other obvious exceptions are first responders, clerics, military, physicians, and others who are really always on call. I wouldn’t want any of these people to lose their jobs over missing a call or text, but being compelled to work at almost anytime goes with the position. It is reasonable to expect the powers that be to staff accordingly, but sometimes that just isn’t possible.
If one refuses contact, especially because of poor staffing, that falls on the employer. Refusing can be a wake-up call. This and respecting the personal lives of workers is reasonable. It is reasonable that we work to live, not live to work.
On one job, I was paid $3 an hour to carry the phone with me at all times and was paid full pay for four hours when I answered the phone. Even if it was a couple of minutes long. But, if I got called in to fix the problem, I was paid time and half for as long as it took me to fix the problem.
Now, I have caller ID and if it is work related, I don’t answer it. I check the message but normally ignore it.
I’ve told them, you don’t pay my phone bill so if you want me to answer a phone, when I’m off, you’ll have to pay me. I’ve also blocked them on text and e-mail.
What, you going to fire me? The down side is what, again?
Working from home doesn’t mean working any less or any less right to time off the clock
Not sure what you mean about employers working 24/7? - of course some places of employment work 24/7 but the workers still work 8 or 12 or whatever hours shifts.
Working as an employee then being self employed lets you see both sides of the coin, as the latter, I would ask an employee who refuses to take a call outside normal business hours “Do you realize that business pays your bills, you should be interested in making the organization as successful as possible”.
Well, you would be up before the Fair Work Ombudsman in Australia if there is alleged non-compliance with the Commission’s orders. An employer may be subject to penalties of up to $18,780 for an individual or $93,900 for a body corporate per contravention for contravening a Commission order in relation to the right to disconnect
That sounds like the sort of emotional blackmail people were pushing back against.
and one could answer with ‘Do you realize you pay me from 9 - 5 only’. -and no, I would not be interested in making the business aka the employer, more money by taking advantage of me outside of work hours
However in reality I think most people are ok with occasional reasonable calls outside of hours - good management is give and take. Ive had occasional calls and requests form people outside of work and I usually oblige - but then Ive usually had good employers who have reasonable leeway and appreciation from their end too
Seems strange to me that such a law has to come into use. Never heard of anything like it here in the UK. But then again working from home didn’t happen either.
I remember some years ago I had my hip replaced and was at home recovering whilst on some serious pain meds. My work started calling me and wanted me to do some work at home on a laptop, even though I was signed off on a doctor’s note, taking meds which were scrambling my brain and was totally exhausted with sleep deprivation due to pain.
I believe the second word I said was “off” and I asked my wife to pull the phone wire out of the socket. I couldn’t believe the bloody cheek of them! Maybe a “turn off” law would be a good thing.
I’m with Spitty on this…
What a ridiculous law…
What about telling your boss that you won’t answer calls in your own time? Do we actually need a law?
The only people to benefit from this are the people running the tribunal when you get sacked for being a tw&t…
If you have a sick note and are unable to work, you shouldn’t be expected to work. You don’t need a law, but there probably already is one.
Big global conglomerates like Amazon have no excuse to call anyone at home out of working hours unless it’s about information only they can supply.
I see this law as another nail in the coffin for small and family run businesses.
You are not just an employee, you are part of a team, without which there would be no job and no pay, you have a responsibility to help where you can. I was called several times on my day off while working for Royal Mail, sometimes I went in, and sometimes I couldn’t, but bad attitude helps nobody and I didn’t need a law to prevent my line manager from ringing and asking for help. There are many reasons why an employee didn’t turn up for work at the last minute, but the post had to be delivered.
People who specialise in the job they do should be able to be contacted by phone from the boss if there is a problem only they can solve.
As an engineer, I was called in a few times to sort out problems. Either that, or the company loses custom…
There are too many laws these days and most of them overlap other laws and are not necessary. There will be a law soon to prevent walking on the cracks in the pavement…
What a depressing world we are making for ourselves…
Foxy, you were employed then self employed, young then older, so, you saw both sides of the coin. When I was young, I was the first one on the picket line when demarcation was being abused, sometimes by arse lickin fellow members, a certain person didn’t need to break the unions, the rank and file was doing a pretty good job on their own!
I Like you, Ms. Surfermom, always felt the need to respond, taking care of an issue now could save many headaches later, but then, in the transportation field, most problems (when and if they arose) needed remedying yesterday.
There is nothing stopping an employer from having “on call” being part of a registered wage award as long as the employee is remunerated appropriately.
Awards are there to protect the employee, an employer may offer wages and conditions above the award but not less.
The amendment to the industrial relations law is to stop abuses such as mentioned by @Graham
Australia has a very robust industrial relations system as some companies like Amazon found to their cost.
Edit:
If you don’t quite understand the significance of awards here is a link that explains it.
