A rule has come into effect in Australia that allows workers to ignore calls or messages from their bosses outside of work hours, the Daily Mail reported. BBC.
The law does not prohibit employers from contacting employees after working hours. Instead, it gives employees the right not to respond unless the refusal is considered unreasonable.
Under the rules, employers and employees must try to resolve disputes between themselves. If this fails, the Australian Fair Work Commission (FWC) may intervene.
The FWC can then order the employer not to contact the employee outside of working hours. Conversely: if the employee unreasonably refuses to answer, according to the organization, it can order him to answer.
If both parties do not comply, the FWC can impose fines. In the case of an employee it can be more than four million forints, and in the case of a company it can be more than 22 million forints.
According to the justification for the proposal, they want to enhance employee rights and work-life balance with the new rules.
“Any organisation where employees are more comfortable and have a better work-life balance will have employees who are less likely to take sick leave and less likely to leave work,” said John Hopkins of Swinburne University of Technology. “Whatever is good for the employee is good for the employer.”
According to one representative, Australians work an average of six weeks of free overtime each year, which equates to more than A$92 billion in unpaid wages, or roughly 21.6 trillion forints.
