Right to disconnect law to come into effect

From 26 August 2025, small business employees will have the right to disconnect from work outside of their usual work hours. This means they can refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact, or attempted contact, from their employer, outside of their working hours, unless that refusal is unreasonable. The right also applies to contact from third parties, such as clients, suppliers, other staff and members of the public. 

An employee’s refusal will be considered unreasonable if the contact or attempted contact is required by law. If not required by law, the following must be considered: 

• the reason for the contact
• how the contact is made and how disruptive it is to the employee
• how much the employee is compensated or paid extra for:
  • being available to perform work during the period they’re contacted, or
  • working additional hours outside their ordinary hours of work
• the employee’s role in the business and level of responsibility
• the employee’s personal circumstances, including family or caring responsibilities. 

At the outset, employers and employees are encouraged to discuss what out-of-hours contact might mean. They should set expectations about contact and responding to contact when either party is not working. For example:  

• when an employee may need to monitor, read or respond to contact 
• both parties’ preferences for how they prefer to be contacted when required (for example, a phone call may be preferable to monitoring email) 
• personal circumstances that could impact either parties’ ability to respond to out-of-hours contact.  

Visit the Fair Work Ombudsman’s page for more information or view the Ombudsman’s video.