On Monday, 26 August, several legal and regulatory changes included in the Closing Loopholes Act (passed earlier this year by Parliament) will come into effect. These changes will better protect casual employees, with a new legal definition of what constitutes casual employment (rather than leaving it solely to employers), and better pathways for casual workers to obtain permanent employment. New protections for ‘employee-like’ workers in the road transport and platform economy (including food delivery riders and ride-share drivers) will also come into effect.

One of the most exciting changes coming on 26 August is enactment of the new ‘Right to Disconnect’ for workers at large firms. (For smaller workplaces, these changes come into effect next year.) This marks an important step forward in workers’ ability to turn off their devices outside of normal work hours, and get full value from their leisure time.

The importance of these protections, and some detail on how workers can make the most of them, are provided in this commentary article by Melissa Donnelly, National Secretary of the Community and Public Service Union. The commentary originally appeared in the Canberra Times. Ms Donnelly refers to research from the Centre for Future Work’s annual Go Home On Time Day survey; see our full 2023 report on unpaid overtime for full details on those findings.

Right to Disconnect Means Countless Aussies are About to Reclaim Knock-Off Time

By Melissa Donnelly

Everything that is treasured by Australians gets a nickname and finishing work at the end of the day is no different.

But I’d argue that knock-off time is more than treasured. It’s sacred.

Workers will soon have the right to disconnect and not answer calls or emails outside of paid hours as parliament passes Labor’s bill endorsing the reform.

For some, knock-off time leads to a frantic trip to pick up the kids from school and then piling over to the neighbours’ place to watch the footy.

For others, it means a visit to the local gym, a game of social soccer, or dinner and drinks with friends.

But as time has passed and technology has improved, we’ve become increasingly available.

The iconic Nokia 3310 was released in 2000, but it wasn’t pinging at us every time we got an email or meeting invite.

It was only used for texts, calls and, of course, snake.

Fast forward to 2024 and things are little bit different.

For many, our now very smart phones are ringing or sending us email notifications and texts more often than they aren’t.

Things that could wait until you got to the office are being done while you eat breakfast, and that call that definitely could have been an email is being answered late into the night because you’re committed to your job and don’t want to ignore your boss.

But it’s not sustainable.

We’ve slowly but surely lost our sacred knock-off time, and in its place is “I’m heading off, but available on my mobile”, or “I’ll jump back online when I’m home to finish that thing off”.

I don’t know that knock-off time really exists anymore, but I do know that we’re all the worse for it.

The union movement has always fought to protect workers while they are at work.

Basically, you now have the right to knock off at the end of day. Properly.

But just as important, has been the long and consistent fight the union movement has had with businesses and governments to protect the right of workers to not be at work.

Weekends, lunch breaks, annual leave, sick leave and parental have all been fought for and secured by the union movement.

So, what do you do when your time away from work is increasingly compromised by the explosion of technology?

You campaign for and secure the right for workers to disconnect.

And that’s exactly what we’ve done.

What does this mean in practice?

It means that you’ve got a whole bunch of extra rights when it comes to being contacted after-hours or being asked to monitor emails or anything work related, outside of work hours.

If an employer is contacting you outside of your working hours, there must be a good reason for it.

The Fair Work Act provides a good outline to help determine if contact is reasonable or not. These include:

The reason for the contact – is it an emergency or highly time sensitive?

The method of contact and the level of disruption it causes (for example, an email is less disruptive than an SMS or phone call).

Whether the employee is paid to be available or is paid for additional hours worked.

The nature of the role and the level of responsibility held by the employee.

The employee’s personal circumstances (including family or caring responsibilities).

This law supports you to switch off and will make your boss think twice about contacting you.

Basically, you now have the right to knock off at the end of day. Properly.

You aren’t paid to be available 24/7 – so you shouldn’t be.

You should be able to watch your child at footy training – uninterrupted.

You should be able to go to a pottery class – uninterrupted.

You should be able to go fishing, visit a loved one, make book week costumes (parents, head to toe in glitter and makeshift costumes will know it’s *this week*), play soccer, have a beer, go to a dance recital, plod around in your garden, read a book, bake a cake – uninterrupted.

You might be asking yourself right now, how big of a problem is this?

The Centre for Future Work at The Australia Institute publishes an annual report that shines a light on the amount of unpaid overtime that Australian workers are doing.

The 2023 report found that on average, employees perform 5.4 hours of unpaid work per week, with full-time employees working about 6.2 unpaid hours per week. This equates to more than 280 additional hours per year, or about 7 weeks per year, per worker.

Workers shouldn’t be working an extra 7 weeks for free every year.

You’re meant to knock off on time, and you’re meant to be able to switch off at the end of the day because it is good for you. It is good for your mental health, it is good for your physical health, it is good for your relationships.

Just because we can be available all the time, doesn’t mean we should be.

My final comments are ones you’d expect from a union leader. I want to highlight that the rights you have as a worker aren’t really your rights unless they are enforced. And that goes for all rights – your right to flexible work, your right to a safe workplace and now, your right to disconnect.

If you’re not sure how to access these rights and you’re a member of the CPSU, reach out to our Member Service Centre. If you’re an APS employee but not yet a member, it’s time to join.

The right to knock off at the end of the day is back, and I encourage you to use it.

Melissa Donnelly is the national secretary of the Community and Public Sector Union.