IR reforms to ensure people have a ‘reasonable right to disconnect’ when not at work

Assistant Defence Minister Matt Thistlethwaite says the Albanese government’s Industrial Relations reforms will ensure people have a “reasonable right to disconnect” when they’re not at work. Mr Thistlethwaite says that increasingly people are “required to connect after hours” particularly through “emails and other forms of social media”. “What we’re trying to do here is make sure that people are having a reasonable result and a reasonable right to disconnect when they’re not at work,” he told Sky News Australia. “The distinction about when people are at work and when people are on family time at home has become so blurred over the last decade because of the ability of the boss to connect with their workers. “It should be reasonable that a person has the opportunity to disconnect and spend time with their family … without being asked to immediately get on to a particular task.”