Given that some employers contact their employees after hours or that some employees may be required to respond to workplace security issues after hours the Government has put in place blanket rules regarding contact with employees after hours.
From 26 August 2024 employees can ignore employer attempts to contact them after hours. This includes calls from a third party such as a security company.
Employees can agree to the afterhours contact, or they can seek to negotiate additional compensation for out of hours contact.
The employee’s right to refuse contact will not apply if it is deemed unreasonable. Whether this is the case will be determined by a number of factors such as the reason for the attempted contact, how the contact is made and the level of interruption to the employee’s personal life, the nature of the employee’s role and whether the wages or salary paid would provide compensation for such additional working time. These factors are obviously fairly subjective at this time but will become clearer in the future.
The Fair Work Commission will be able to deal with disputes about the right to disconnect or the whether the employee is being unreasonable in their refusal.
Employers should review why employees may be contacted after hours including who may be ‘on call’. Further consideration should be given to the Award coverage and whether this attempted contact after hours could be a ‘call back’ which may invoke certain minimum overtime compensation in some Awards.
Just because an employee has always been available after hours does not imply they will still be available following these changes. Employers need to clarify under what circumstances certain employees need to be contacted and how.
Please check your relevant Award for the right to disconnect provisions.
The above changes come into effect from 26 August 2024. For small business from 26 August 2025.
Hunter Employee Relations can assist employers with formulating policies, and employment contract clauses – including for afterhours contact.
Give me a call anytime to talk it through. (Even after hours!)
Want to know more about Hunter Employee Relations?
Want to know more about our client services?
Kind Regards
Michael Schmidt
M 0438 129 728
www.hunteremployeerelations.com.au
Industrial Relations - Employment Law - Workplace Performance
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |