Right to Disconnect
What doesn’t Change
The “right to disconnect” does not prevent an employer or a third party from contacting an employee outside of their normal working hours.
What Changes
The “right to disconnect” allows an employee to refuse to act on a request unless it is unreasonable.
To determine the situations that are “unreasonable” for an employee not to act, the issue of Award coverage must be determined.
Award Covered employees
Awards will be updated to include provisions on the “right to disconnect.” The FWC is in the process of finalising the clause which will be ready by 23/8/24
The current Draft clause narrows the requirement for an employee to respond unless they are paid a standby allowance.
Non – Award Covered employees.
A non- award employee is expected to respond in the following scenarios.
- The employee is a Senior Manager.
- The role, i.e., a Business Development manager would expect the need to action matters outside of normal hours.
- An employee receiving an on-call allowance.
Note: Operative date for small businesses for the Right to disconnect is 26th August 2025 Casual Conversion to Permanent Employment
Key Changes
- No automatic conversion to permanent employment due to being incorrectly classified as their employment practices would deem them to permanent employee conditions.
- To maintain their status as casual employees, they must be treated as such.
Casual Employment Information Statements
A casual employment information statement must be provided as soon as practicable after they commence employment to understand their rights. A further copy must be provided six months after their commencement date and every 12 months after that.
*Note: If you are a small business employer, you only need to provide the statement at the commencement of employment.
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