Bill
Fair Work Amendment (Right to Disconnect) Bill 2023 [No. 2]
lapsed, as at 2025-07-21.
- Sponsor
- Barbara Pocock
- Portfolio
- Not recorded
Recorded stages
- introduced — 2023-03-27
- second reading — 2023-03-27
- other — 2025-07-21
Divisions
No divisions recorded. Most questions are decided on the voices; this does not establish that a bill was unopposed.
Plain-language summary
Written by a model from the explanatory memorandum; not the record, as at 2023-03-27.
The bill would give employees a legal right to ignore work calls, emails and other messages outside their scheduled hours.
It would add this right to the National Employment Standards, which set minimum conditions for all employees covered by the Fair Work Act.
An employer could still contact an employee outside hours in an emergency or genuine welfare matter, or if the employee receives an availability allowance for that period.
- Adds the right to disconnect outside working hours to the National Employment Standards.
- Prohibits employers from contacting employees outside work hours except in emergencies, genuine welfare matters, or when the employee receives an availability allowance.
- Frees employees from any obligation to monitor, read or respond to employer communications outside their work hours unless they receive an availability allowance.
Employees covered by the Fair Work Act 2009 and their employers.
Sources
em
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