Workers could soon be given the right to 'disconnect' from the office and ignore phone calls and emails after-hours. The federal parliament appears set to pass new laws granting a right to switch-off, as part of a broader package of industrial relations reforms.
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00:00 It's a phone call that can ruin a weekend.
00:06 And soon workers will have the right to simply ignore it.
00:09 Millions of Australian workers give their time unpaid through their phone or their computer
00:14 on weekends and outside their paid working time.
00:17 Federal Parliament looks set to pass new laws creating a right to disconnect.
00:22 What we're simply saying is that someone who's not being paid 24 hours a day shouldn't be
00:28 penalised if they're not online and available 24 hours a day.
00:33 It means that you have the right to refuse to be contacted where it is unreasonable in
00:38 relation to your work outside your working time.
00:41 The new laws will be fairly simple.
00:44 Employers will still have the right to contact their staff out of work hours, be it via email,
00:48 text or phone.
00:50 But workers will have the right to simply ignore it and can't be punished for doing
00:54 so.
00:55 The new laws recognise there can be good reasons for employers getting in touch, like shift
00:59 changes or work emergencies.
01:02 When disputes happen, they will ultimately be decided by the Fair Work Commission.
01:06 I think this is really a triumph of stupidity over common sense.
01:10 Business groups and the opposition warn the rules could threaten flexibility in the workplace.
01:15 If we're genuine about flexible workplaces, if we're genuine about allowing people to
01:20 take time off to go and pick up their kids from school for instance, well then I think
01:23 we've got to have sensible conversations about what rights and obligations exist.
01:29 This wasn't the government's idea.
01:30 It's something the Greens negotiated into a broader IR package.
01:34 It includes things like changing the way casual work is defined, to better reflect a worker's
01:39 actual shift patterns, and setting minimum standards for gig workers, like a base rate
01:43 of pay for Uber drivers and food delivery riders.
01:47 Those are bigger government priorities.
01:49 But a right to disconnect is something it was happy to add on.
01:52 [BLANK_AUDIO]