Are U.S. Employers Ready for a Right to Disconnect Law?
Real World Impact: U.S. employers should be aware of the global trend of “right to disconnect” laws and should review their policies on after-hours communications to stay ahead of social and legal changes. Last week, Australia's new "right to disconnect" law went into effect. T he law protects employees who choose not to monitor, read, or respond to communications outside of their working hours, with some restrictions. The protection d oes not apply to "unreasonable" refusals or emergency situations. Whether an employee's refusal to respond is considered unreasonable will depend on various factors, including the employee's seniority, personal circumstances such as caregiving responsibilities, the reason for the contact, and the extent of disruption caused to the employee. Australia is not the first to enact such a law. In recent years, more than a dozen countries have enacted some version of this right to disconnect. As this legislation gains trac...