Right to disconnect to apply to all employees

Last updated 01 September 2025

Lisa Johnstone

Head of Payroll

Overview of the 'Right to disconnect' legislation

Once the right to disconnect laws apply, employees have the right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact (or attempted contact) outside their working hours, unless doing so is unreasonable. This includes contact (or attempted contact) from an employer or a third party.

Employers and employees are encouraged to discuss contact out of hours and set expectations that suit the workplace and the employee’s role.

The right to disconnect rules don’t make it unlawful for an employer to contact an employee outside working hours. Instead, they give employees a right to refuse to monitor, read or respond to the contact, unless doing so is unreasonable.

For small business employers and their employees, the right to disconnect applies from 26 August 2025. It applied to non-small business employers and their employees from 26 August 2024.

Important: It is not unlawful for an employer to contact an employee outside working hours. The focus is whether an employee’s refusal to engage with that contact is unreasonable.

When is a refusal unreasonable?

When working out whether an employee’s refusal is unreasonable, consider:

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:
1. being available to perform work during the period they’re contacted, or
2. 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

Other relevant matters may also be considered. It will be unreasonable for an employee to refuse to read, monitor or respond if the contact or attempted contact is required by law.

Examples

Employee’s personal circumstances make out-of-hours contact unreasonable

Selim, a consultant with flexible hours (7:30 am to 4 pm) for childcare, is copied into an urgent client email at 4:30 pm. Selim’s supervisor, Ava, decides not to contact him, asking another consultant to assist instead. This is appropriate given Selim’s caring responsibilities and the availability of another employee.

Employee is compensated for reasonable out-of-hours contact

Elizabeth, acting in a higher-duties role at an architecture firm with additional pay, is told some after-hours contact may be required. When urgent work arises requiring about three hours that evening, she reads but does not respond until 8 pm. Based on the circumstances, her refusal to monitor or respond could be unreasonable.

Awards and agreements

Awards

The Fair Work Commission added a right to disconnect clause to all awards on 26 August 2024. An employee’s right to disconnect applies from:

26 August 2024 for non-small business employers and their employees
26 August 2025 for small business employers and their employees

All awards include a right to disconnect clause. An employer must not stop an employee from using their right to disconnect. Awards may also clarify how the right to disconnect works with emergency roster changes, stand-by and call-back clauses.

Agreements

Employees covered by an enterprise or other registered agreement should check the terms of their agreement for information about the right to disconnect.

Regular and open communication helps maintain a harmonious working environment. It can also prevent workplace problems from happening. Both employees and employers are responsible for open and effective communication at and about work.

Employers should consider

Training for managers, supervisors and employees

Fair Work’s Difficult conversations in the workplace — manager online course
Fair Work’s Consultation and cooperation in the workplace best practice guide
Fair Work’s Difficult conversations in the workplace — employee online course

Internal policies, procedures and documents

Review and update internal documents (for example, position descriptions) to reflect expectations for out-of-hours contact.

Template for informing your employees

Copy and adapt the template below.

To: <Insert employee>
Subject: Disconnecting from work
Dear <Insert employee>
As you may be aware, recent changes in workplace legislation have introduced the right for employees to disconnect, which commenced on 26 August [2024/2025].

As an employee with [Name of Employer] I’m writing to share some essential information about the new right to disconnect, as well as some practical guidance on how to navigate this new requirement in your communication and day to day dealings with your colleagues.

Overview of the new right to disconnect

Firstly, it is important for all employees to be aware that the new right to disconnect does not prohibit you or anyone else you’re working with at [Name of Employer], including [customers, clients and suppliers] from contacting each other outside of working hours.

What the recent changes mean is that as an employee you are entitled to disconnect from work. This means in some circumstances you may be entitled to refuse to monitor, read or respond to contact (or attempted contact), related to your work at [Name of Employer] including from a third party (e.g. customers, clients, suppliers) outside of your working hours. This will be the case where the contact is outside of your working hours, related to your work and where your refusal is not unreasonable.

When determining whether a refusal is unreasonable, the reasons for the contact, how it is made and level of disruption caused, the extent to which you are compensated for being available or working additional hours, the nature of your role and level of responsibility and your personal circumstances must all be taken into account.

Right to disconnect policy

[Optional paragraph – use if you have a right to disconnect policy / delete if not relevant]

In line with this recent change to the law, [Name of Employer] has developed a new internal [Insert name of policy e.g. Disconnecting from Work] policy that outlines our expectations around the right to disconnect. This will ensure everyone has a consistent understanding and follows best practices.

I encourage you to review this new policy which can be accessed [insert where policy can be accessed or attach to email]. If you have any questions about this new policy or about out-of-hours contact, please contact [insert contact person].

Kind regards,

<Insert email sender’s name>