The Right to Disconnect

The right for an employee to disconnect from the workplace has been in place since August 2024 for employees of large businesses and from August 2025 for small businesses.

This means that an employee is not required to monitor, read or respond to contact, or attempted contact, from their employer or a colleague or customer outside their normal working hours. Previous newsletter articles are available here.

The South Australian Employment Tribunal has now issued the first substantive rulings on the right to disconnect, and found that an Adelaide hairdressing salon did not breach its apprentices’ right to disconnect, despite sending them TikTok and Snapchat videos and other out-of-hours messages that were ‘unpleasant and intrusive’.

Two employees brought a claim against their former employer in relation to wages and other issues but also claimed the employer had breached their right to disconnect from work.

One employee gave evidence that the salon owner frequently sent her TikTok and Snapchat videos, sometimes about non-urgent work matters, outside working hours. She alleged that, if she did not respond before her next shift, the salon owner ‘would be in a bad mood and would ignore her’.

The other employee complained of a ‘consistent pattern’ of contact outside working hours, including on her days off, while she was at trade school, and while she was unwell or on leave. She claimed that this contact ‘created an ongoing expectation of availability’ and contributed to stress.

The Tribunal ultimately found that neither employee established a breach of the right to disconnect laws. The reasoning was that the employer did not prevent the employees from disconnecting.

The Tribunal considered that the right to disconnect is a right to ignore, and a breach turns on whether the employer directly or indirectly prevented the worker from exercising that right, not on the volume or nature of the contact itself. Basically, the employer did not make the employees respond.

Notwithstanding, it is best for employers and employees to clearly understand their respective rights. The right to disconnect doesn’t prevent an employer from sending emails and messages to an employee out of the employee’s standard working hours. The right to disconnect means that the employee is not required to respond.

However, there are exceptions to this when the employer and employee have agreed to particular circumstances, for example, an emergency arises such as stock getting out or an irrigator breaking down. Such agreements should be in writing and signed. Contact Andrew for further advice.