The right to disconnect has started, giving Australians legal cover to stop responding to emails and calls after hours

Millions of Australians will now be able to clock off from their work shifts without having to be available after hours. "It's a new right for an employee to refuse that contact, to refuse to monitor their emails, or to refuse to take a telephone call from their employer, if it's outside of their working hours." How the pandemic blurred our working and personal lives Academic Gabrielle Golding said the COVID-19 pandemic and enforced "work from home" periods promoted growth in what she calls "availability creep". Ms McManus said "if you work, you should get paid" and the right to disconnect will enable workers to put in place boundaries between their work and personal life. "A lot of it comes down to behaviours and work practises," said Kathryn van der Merwe, the human resources executive in charge of Telstra's 31,000 employees.