The Right to Disconnect: What small business owners need to know before 26 August 2025!

From 26 August 2025, employees in small businesses across Australia will have a legal “right to disconnect”. This means the right to ignore work calls, emails, texts, and messages outside their working hours unless it’s unreasonable for them to do so.

These changes follow updates to the Fair Work Act and aim to help employees achieve better work-life balance.

Here’s what this means for your business and exactly how to get ready.

What is the Right to Disconnect?

Employees can refuse to monitor, read, or respond to work communications (from employers, colleagues, clients, or suppliers) after work, except where a refusal would be unreasonable.

“Unreasonable” depends on things like the urgency of contact, the employee’s role, if they’re paid for extra time, or family responsibilities.

The law doesn’t ban all after-hours contact. However, if an employee disputes it, the Fair Work Commission can step in.

These changes apply to small businesses (less than 15 employees) from 26 August 2025. Larger businesses are already covered from 26 August 2024.

How can small businesses prepare?

1. Review and update policies & contracts

• Check if your employment contracts or workplace policies mention after-hours contact.
• Update documents to reflect the new laws, including the right to disconnect.
• If certain roles truly require after-hours communication (like emergency or on-call work), this should be clearly stated in both contracts and position descriptions.

2. Clarify “reasonable” contact

You should decide and document when after-hours contact is reasonable in your business (e.g. safety issues, urgent work demands, genuine business emergencies).

Consider employee roles, pay arrangements (including allowances for on-call work), and personal circumstances.

3. Communicate with your team

• Start open conversations with employees about the new law and your workplace’s expectations.
• Let your team know they’re not expected to monitor phones or emails outside hours (unless pre-agreed or in emergencies).

4. Establish a dispute resolution process

Plan out what to do if an employee and manager disagree about what’s “reasonable”. This also involves encouraging issues to be raised early, and in writing if required.

Know that if things can’t be resolved in-house, the Fair Work Commission may be asked to step in.

5. Train your leaders

You should make sure anyone in charge understands the law and models good behaviour by not making unnecessary contact after hours.

You can equip them to respond to staff questions and support a healthy work-life balance.

7. Review position descriptions

Check that job descriptions match actual practice, including any requirements for after-hours contact or availability.

Update these as soon as possible and discuss these changes with staff.

If you’re unsure how these changes affect your business, please get in touch with our legal team today.

For a detailed overview of the new laws and what they mean, watch our podcast episode below: