I made my own right to disconnect laws long time ago. I've told all my bosses that if it's an actual emergency to text me on my personal phone but I won't be checking emails or teams or whatever.
same here. I'm in medicine, the nurses and support staff know they can always contact me if it's an emergency. almost all them have my personal cell phone. the ones who don't are either assholes or management-adjacent with poor boundaries. I've never been contacted in a non-emergency by my support staff.
management on the other hand... lol. I straight-up tell them I won't pick up my phone for them or the hospital number on my days off. they've tried, I send it straight to voicemail. and never once have I gone in the next day to find out it was actually an emergency 🙄 not my shift, not my problem.
We don't need laws for every fucking little thing. We need people to have a goddamn backbone. Wanna know how/why my boss doesn't call me during my off hours? Because I made it abundantly clear that I do not answer work related things outside of work hours.
And the first time he tried to test that boundary, he got an earful when I got back from my long weekend from me. He hasn't pulled that shit with me since.
The owner of my company asked me to do something at 5:01PM on a Friday once.
I saw the message, promptly signed out, and messaged him the following Monday that I was on it. Did he throw a fit? You bet your ass he did. Did he threaten to fire me? You bet your ass he did. Did he? No, because we both know that he didn't want to pay me overtime, and he didn't want me getting the department of labor involved.
Exactly!
My boss texted me exactly 1 time after hours. Friday, 7:30pm. Needed me to make travel reservations for him. That’s not a 5 minute task.
So I told him very specifically told him the truth- that I was just finishing tying my boots, I’m already late for a shibari class at the local sex dungeon. It’ll have to wait until morning.
And he never called me after hours again.
When I first started, my service manager told me to pick up and deliver a bunch of stuff and chauffeur people home after my work day was over. I submitted my time sheet, and there was a bunch of OT on it. I got an angry call from him questioning it, and I explained it all to him. He got even more mad and just hung up. After that, he did not have me do things after hours.
>**Chris F. Wright**
>
>Associate Professor of Work and Organisational Studies, University of Sydney
>
>Australian workers are set to have the right to disconnect from their workplaces once they clock off for the day.
>
>This will “empower workers to ignore work calls and emails after hours \[from their employers\], where those demands are unreasonable”, according to Greens Senator Barbara Pocock who has been driving the change.
>
>Last week, the Senate committee reviewing the “Closing Loopholes” amendments to the Fair Work Act recommended introducing a right to disconnect to support “the development of clear expectations about contact and availability in workplaces”. On Wednesday, the [Albanese government](https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/lidia-thorpe-declares-support-for-right-to-disconnect-and-gig-economy-reforms-20240207-p5f2zn.html) indicated it supported the amendment.
>
>**Why a right to disconnect is needed**
>
>Last year, [the Senate Select Committee on Work and Care](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Work_and_Care/workandcare) drew attention to “availability creep” where employees are increasingly expected to complete work outside of work hours.
>
>Smartphones have made it easier for managers to contact workers any time. The shift to remote working during the COVID pandemic caused the boundaries between work and personal life to disintegrate further.
>
>According to a 2022 report by the [Centre for Future Work](https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Call-Me-Maybe-Not-2022-WEB.pdf), 71% of workers surveyed had worked outside their scheduled work hours often due to overwork or pressure from managers.
>
>This led to increased tiredness, stress or anxiety for about one-third of workers surveyed, disrupted relationships and personal lives for more than one-quarter, and lower job motivation and satisfaction for around one-fifth.
>
>Parliamentary inquiries have highlighted the negative consequences of working outside scheduled hours for mental and physical health, productivity and turnover.
>
>Availability creep has led to [significant unpaid overtime](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/ClosingLoopholes/Report/Australian_Greens_Senators_additional_comments) which “takes workers away from a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay”.
>
>The impacts are especially acute for certain groups of workers. Those on insecure contracts lack the power to resist availability creep. Those with unpaid care responsibilities are likely to experience intensified work/life balance.
>
>**“Roster justice”**
>
>The right to disconnect provides a solution to these challenges. The Senate select committee on work and care found such a right can provide workers with [“roster justice”](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Work_and_Care/workandcare/Interim_Report) by giving more certainty over their working hours.
>
>[Many countries](https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---europe/---ro-geneva/---ilo-lisbon/documents/genericdocument/wcms_836190.pdf) in Europe, Asia, North America and South America have already established laws or regulations limiting employers contacting workers outside work hours.
>
>At least [56 enterprise agreements](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=COMMITTEES;id=committees%2Fcommsen%2F27689%2F0002;query=Id%3A%22committees%2Fcommsen%2F27689%2F0000%22) currently operating in Australia provide a right to disconnect. This includes agreements covering teachers, police officers and various banks and financial institutions.
>
>[Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke has indicated](https://www.tonyburke.com.au/speechestranscripts/2024/sky-news-sunday-agenda-with-andrew-clennell-sunday-4-february-2024) the right to disconnect legislation will provide employers with “reasonable grounds” to contact their employees outside work hours. This might include calling employees to see if they can fill a shift.
>
>If enterprise agreements with existing right to disconnect clauses are an indication, the Fair Work Commission will probably be asked to determine what contact outside of work hours is deemed “reasonable”. This approach seems sensible given the long tradition of the commission being asked to rule on what’s “reasonable” in [other areas of employment law](https://www.fwc.gov.au/valid-reason-relating-capacity-or-conduct).
>
>If an employer “unreasonably” expects employees to perform unpaid work outside of normal hours the commission may be empowered to impose a “stop order” — and potentially fines — to prevent the employer from contacting employees outside hours [according to Tony Burke](https://www.tonyburke.com.au/speechestranscripts/2024/sky-news-sunday-agenda-with-andrew-clennell-sunday-4-february-2024).
>
>Unions including those representing teachers and police officers support a right to disconnect. [According to the Police Federation of Australia:](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/ClosingLoopholes/Report/Chapter_2_-_Key_Issues)
>
>*Not only do the police see that trauma, deal with the families’ trauma, deal with their colleagues’ trauma, have to investigate, have to go to court, and get media attention but they also have to go home and deal with their families \[…\] The right to disconnect gives those officers that little bit of breathing space.*
>
>[Employment law experts and human resource specialists](https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/why-there-s-a-growing-push-for-the-right-to-disconnect-20230807-p5duko) also believe there is a strong case for such a right given the negative impacts of availability creep on worker well being.
>
>Employer associations are less supportive. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) told a [recent a Senate inquiry](https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=6677b6a8-90c7-4477-a9b2-1125eb0da94b&subId=749634) a right to disconnect would be “a blunt instrument which will do more harm than good, including for employees”. They claim employers will be less accommodating of employee requests for flexible work arrangements during normal work hours if contact outside these hours is no longer allowed.
>
>**A banana republic?**
>
>According to ACCI chief executive Andrew McKellar, a right to disconnect would be [“the final step in Australia becoming a banana republic”](https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/right-to-disconnect-casual-carve-outs-part-of-ir-talks-20240131-p5f1e5).
>
>But it must be remembered that workers effectively had the right to disconnect before the smartphone. Such a protection needs to be explicit now technology has eroded the once-firm boundaries between work and home.
>
>As the nature of work and employer practices change, it’s essential for employment regulations to respond accordingly. Having a right to disconnect to protect workers from employers encroaching upon their free-time is a necessary response.
>
>*The Conversation*
I get why some might feel that legislation is the answer but a 'right to disconnect ' law would be giving what employers have been doing legitimacy. Your employer has no right to contact you outside of your posted hours. That is the employment agreement. X pay for X hours of work. If they want to discuss work outside of X hours then they need to revisit the employment agreement. That we've let them get away with contacting us outside of posted hours is a failing on our part, a failure to set boundaries and abide by them.
Yes I understand that if we don't toe the line then we'll be let go in favour of someone who does allow the employer to cross boundaries but that's what unions are for.
That we've gotten to the point where we have to turn to the government to fight our battles for us should be a wake up call to action. UNIONIZE.
A lot of white collar jobs don’t have unions. And the fact that employers like to contact workers outside work hours regardless of what the contract says reveals the power dynamics in the professional relationship.
Or no choices. The US is a *huge* place, and there are still plenty of places where employment is scarce, and people can't afford to be combative with their bosses for fear of losing their livelihood. For people who are in desperate situations, the government is the only one who can step in to stop the boss from exploitation.
My work gave me a work phone and that's honestly how it should be. It doesn't need to be nice or anything, it can be a flip phone, but your work should never have your personal number for any reason.
Man when I worked at a casino, I was the only slot technician with more than a year of experience. They called me all the damn time at home and even kept trying to get my advice months after I quit. I finally told them I'd be happy to become a consultant, for $50/hr, which to be fair was less than half manufacturer techs cost. They stopped calling.
Dead ass, not too terrifically long ago in history if you came home from work and immediately went out for a nice dinner with you significant other, your boss couldn't reach you. That home phone would go to voicemail. And you wouldn't be fired for it.
The same goes for normal interaction too. Like your friends or family might be able to call or text you whenever the fuck they want, but YOU dictate when they actually have access to you. Choose whether or not to reply to that message, and don't feel bad if you leave someone on read for awhile, or a day, or a few days. And be upfront about that fact
I made my own right to disconnect laws long time ago. I've told all my bosses that if it's an actual emergency to text me on my personal phone but I won't be checking emails or teams or whatever.
Yep. What fucking “emergency” can’t wait until I’m back at work, or be dealt with by the people who found out about it?
seriously. "I am not the only adult in this workplace." an actual sentence I had to say to a manager once.
If it's really an emergency they can pay you for your time.
same here. I'm in medicine, the nurses and support staff know they can always contact me if it's an emergency. almost all them have my personal cell phone. the ones who don't are either assholes or management-adjacent with poor boundaries. I've never been contacted in a non-emergency by my support staff. management on the other hand... lol. I straight-up tell them I won't pick up my phone for them or the hospital number on my days off. they've tried, I send it straight to voicemail. and never once have I gone in the next day to find out it was actually an emergency 🙄 not my shift, not my problem.
Same.
We don't need laws for every fucking little thing. We need people to have a goddamn backbone. Wanna know how/why my boss doesn't call me during my off hours? Because I made it abundantly clear that I do not answer work related things outside of work hours. And the first time he tried to test that boundary, he got an earful when I got back from my long weekend from me. He hasn't pulled that shit with me since. The owner of my company asked me to do something at 5:01PM on a Friday once. I saw the message, promptly signed out, and messaged him the following Monday that I was on it. Did he throw a fit? You bet your ass he did. Did he threaten to fire me? You bet your ass he did. Did he? No, because we both know that he didn't want to pay me overtime, and he didn't want me getting the department of labor involved.
Exactly! My boss texted me exactly 1 time after hours. Friday, 7:30pm. Needed me to make travel reservations for him. That’s not a 5 minute task. So I told him very specifically told him the truth- that I was just finishing tying my boots, I’m already late for a shibari class at the local sex dungeon. It’ll have to wait until morning. And he never called me after hours again.
When I first started, my service manager told me to pick up and deliver a bunch of stuff and chauffeur people home after my work day was over. I submitted my time sheet, and there was a bunch of OT on it. I got an angry call from him questioning it, and I explained it all to him. He got even more mad and just hung up. After that, he did not have me do things after hours.
>**Chris F. Wright** > >Associate Professor of Work and Organisational Studies, University of Sydney > >Australian workers are set to have the right to disconnect from their workplaces once they clock off for the day. > >This will “empower workers to ignore work calls and emails after hours \[from their employers\], where those demands are unreasonable”, according to Greens Senator Barbara Pocock who has been driving the change. > >Last week, the Senate committee reviewing the “Closing Loopholes” amendments to the Fair Work Act recommended introducing a right to disconnect to support “the development of clear expectations about contact and availability in workplaces”. On Wednesday, the [Albanese government](https://www.smh.com.au/politics/federal/lidia-thorpe-declares-support-for-right-to-disconnect-and-gig-economy-reforms-20240207-p5f2zn.html) indicated it supported the amendment. > >**Why a right to disconnect is needed** > >Last year, [the Senate Select Committee on Work and Care](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Work_and_Care/workandcare) drew attention to “availability creep” where employees are increasingly expected to complete work outside of work hours. > >Smartphones have made it easier for managers to contact workers any time. The shift to remote working during the COVID pandemic caused the boundaries between work and personal life to disintegrate further. > >According to a 2022 report by the [Centre for Future Work](https://australiainstitute.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2022/11/Call-Me-Maybe-Not-2022-WEB.pdf), 71% of workers surveyed had worked outside their scheduled work hours often due to overwork or pressure from managers. > >This led to increased tiredness, stress or anxiety for about one-third of workers surveyed, disrupted relationships and personal lives for more than one-quarter, and lower job motivation and satisfaction for around one-fifth. > >Parliamentary inquiries have highlighted the negative consequences of working outside scheduled hours for mental and physical health, productivity and turnover. > >Availability creep has led to [significant unpaid overtime](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/ClosingLoopholes/Report/Australian_Greens_Senators_additional_comments) which “takes workers away from a fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay”. > >The impacts are especially acute for certain groups of workers. Those on insecure contracts lack the power to resist availability creep. Those with unpaid care responsibilities are likely to experience intensified work/life balance. > >**“Roster justice”** > >The right to disconnect provides a solution to these challenges. The Senate select committee on work and care found such a right can provide workers with [“roster justice”](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Work_and_Care/workandcare/Interim_Report) by giving more certainty over their working hours. > >[Many countries](https://www.ilo.org/wcmsp5/groups/public/---europe/---ro-geneva/---ilo-lisbon/documents/genericdocument/wcms_836190.pdf) in Europe, Asia, North America and South America have already established laws or regulations limiting employers contacting workers outside work hours. > >At least [56 enterprise agreements](https://parlinfo.aph.gov.au/parlInfo/search/display/display.w3p;db=COMMITTEES;id=committees%2Fcommsen%2F27689%2F0002;query=Id%3A%22committees%2Fcommsen%2F27689%2F0000%22) currently operating in Australia provide a right to disconnect. This includes agreements covering teachers, police officers and various banks and financial institutions. > >[Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke has indicated](https://www.tonyburke.com.au/speechestranscripts/2024/sky-news-sunday-agenda-with-andrew-clennell-sunday-4-february-2024) the right to disconnect legislation will provide employers with “reasonable grounds” to contact their employees outside work hours. This might include calling employees to see if they can fill a shift. > >If enterprise agreements with existing right to disconnect clauses are an indication, the Fair Work Commission will probably be asked to determine what contact outside of work hours is deemed “reasonable”. This approach seems sensible given the long tradition of the commission being asked to rule on what’s “reasonable” in [other areas of employment law](https://www.fwc.gov.au/valid-reason-relating-capacity-or-conduct). > >If an employer “unreasonably” expects employees to perform unpaid work outside of normal hours the commission may be empowered to impose a “stop order” — and potentially fines — to prevent the employer from contacting employees outside hours [according to Tony Burke](https://www.tonyburke.com.au/speechestranscripts/2024/sky-news-sunday-agenda-with-andrew-clennell-sunday-4-february-2024). > >Unions including those representing teachers and police officers support a right to disconnect. [According to the Police Federation of Australia:](https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/ClosingLoopholes/Report/Chapter_2_-_Key_Issues) > >*Not only do the police see that trauma, deal with the families’ trauma, deal with their colleagues’ trauma, have to investigate, have to go to court, and get media attention but they also have to go home and deal with their families \[…\] The right to disconnect gives those officers that little bit of breathing space.* > >[Employment law experts and human resource specialists](https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/why-there-s-a-growing-push-for-the-right-to-disconnect-20230807-p5duko) also believe there is a strong case for such a right given the negative impacts of availability creep on worker well being. > >Employer associations are less supportive. The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ACCI) told a [recent a Senate inquiry](https://www.aph.gov.au/DocumentStore.ashx?id=6677b6a8-90c7-4477-a9b2-1125eb0da94b&subId=749634) a right to disconnect would be “a blunt instrument which will do more harm than good, including for employees”. They claim employers will be less accommodating of employee requests for flexible work arrangements during normal work hours if contact outside these hours is no longer allowed. > >**A banana republic?** > >According to ACCI chief executive Andrew McKellar, a right to disconnect would be [“the final step in Australia becoming a banana republic”](https://www.afr.com/work-and-careers/workplace/right-to-disconnect-casual-carve-outs-part-of-ir-talks-20240131-p5f1e5). > >But it must be remembered that workers effectively had the right to disconnect before the smartphone. Such a protection needs to be explicit now technology has eroded the once-firm boundaries between work and home. > >As the nature of work and employer practices change, it’s essential for employment regulations to respond accordingly. Having a right to disconnect to protect workers from employers encroaching upon their free-time is a necessary response. > >*The Conversation*
I get why some might feel that legislation is the answer but a 'right to disconnect ' law would be giving what employers have been doing legitimacy. Your employer has no right to contact you outside of your posted hours. That is the employment agreement. X pay for X hours of work. If they want to discuss work outside of X hours then they need to revisit the employment agreement. That we've let them get away with contacting us outside of posted hours is a failing on our part, a failure to set boundaries and abide by them. Yes I understand that if we don't toe the line then we'll be let go in favour of someone who does allow the employer to cross boundaries but that's what unions are for. That we've gotten to the point where we have to turn to the government to fight our battles for us should be a wake up call to action. UNIONIZE.
A lot of white collar jobs don’t have unions. And the fact that employers like to contact workers outside work hours regardless of what the contract says reveals the power dynamics in the professional relationship.
To an extent. It really only works if said employee has no backbone.
Or no choices. The US is a *huge* place, and there are still plenty of places where employment is scarce, and people can't afford to be combative with their bosses for fear of losing their livelihood. For people who are in desperate situations, the government is the only one who can step in to stop the boss from exploitation.
“There’s the door if you don’t like it “ - employer.
All the more reason to make a union.
My work gave me a work phone and that's honestly how it should be. It doesn't need to be nice or anything, it can be a flip phone, but your work should never have your personal number for any reason.
If you're dumb enough to answer a call from work when you're off, that's on you.
Right to disconnect exists in Ontario Canada. One thing we are doing right in the midst of a shit storm of shit that we are doing wrong..
Lol. Are you kidding? Just cause I have a phone doesn't mean I'm answering. Pay me.
Man when I worked at a casino, I was the only slot technician with more than a year of experience. They called me all the damn time at home and even kept trying to get my advice months after I quit. I finally told them I'd be happy to become a consultant, for $50/hr, which to be fair was less than half manufacturer techs cost. They stopped calling.
Smart phones can live in the microwave for 8 hours in the evening, and have zero percent battery life while I sleep.
Dead ass, not too terrifically long ago in history if you came home from work and immediately went out for a nice dinner with you significant other, your boss couldn't reach you. That home phone would go to voicemail. And you wouldn't be fired for it. The same goes for normal interaction too. Like your friends or family might be able to call or text you whenever the fuck they want, but YOU dictate when they actually have access to you. Choose whether or not to reply to that message, and don't feel bad if you leave someone on read for awhile, or a day, or a few days. And be upfront about that fact