Your After-Hours Email Just Became a Legal Question
Your team can now refuse to monitor, read or respond to work contact outside their working hours, unless that refusal is unreasonable. That is the heart of the right to disconnect, and it applies to your firm today.
This lands hardest in professional services, where the culture is often always on. Client deadlines, billable targets and hybrid work have blurred the line between the workday and the evening. The right to disconnect draws that line back, and asks you to respect it.
The point is simple. The right to disconnect is not a ban on out-of-hours contact. You can still call or email. What has changed is that your people can choose not to respond, and you cannot treat them badly for that choice.
Getting this wrong carries real risk. The right to disconnect is a workplace right, so punishing someone for using it can become an adverse action claim. A pattern of after-hours demands can also feed a psychosocial safety complaint.
Start here:
Agree what normal working hours are for each role, and write them down.
Decide what counts as genuinely urgent, and how urgent contact is made.
Set expectations for response times, and match any on-call availability with fair compensation.
Tell your team you support the right to disconnect, and lead by example.
If you read nothing else, read those four points. They hold the core of the right to disconnect for a firm like yours. The sections that follow explain the law, what reasonable means, and how to set expectations that protect both your clients and your people.
Digging Deeper
What the right to disconnect actually says
The right to disconnect is set out in section 333M of the Fair Work Act. It allows an employee to refuse to monitor, read, or respond to contact or attempted contact from their employer outside their working hours, unless the refusal is unreasonable.
It also covers contact from a third party, such as a client, where the contact relates to their work. That matters in professional services, where much of the after-hours pressure comes from clients, not managers.
Two points are often missed. First, the right to disconnect does not stop you from making contact. It protects the choice not to respond. Second, it is a workplace right under the general protections, so it carries strong legal backing.
When it started, and who it covers
The right to disconnect began on 26 August 2024 for businesses with 15 or more employees. For small-business employers with fewer than 15 employees, it began on 26 August 2025. It now applies across the board.
Modern awards were also updated to include a right-to-disconnect term. If your firm employs award-covered staff, the award may add its own detail on top of the general right.
What counts as an unreasonable refusal
The right to disconnect is not absolute. A refusal to respond can be unreasonable, and the law sets out what to weigh. Whether a refusal is reasonable depends on the facts, judged against these factors:
The reason for the contact, and how urgent it is.
How the contact is made, and how disruptive it is.
Whether the employee is compensated for being available or working extra hours.
The nature of the employee’s role and their level of responsibility.
The employee’s personal circumstances, including family and caring responsibilities.
In plain terms, a genuine emergency for a senior, well-paid partner who is paid to be available is very different from a non-urgent 10 pm message to a junior analyst. The right to disconnect still applies to both, but reasonableness will land differently.
Why professional services feel this most
Few sectors run hotter after hours than professional services. Deadlines do not respect the clock. Clients expect responsiveness. Remote and hybrid work mean the laptop is always within reach.
That is exactly the environment for which the right to disconnect was written. A firm that treats constant availability as the unspoken standard is now on the wrong side of the law, and probably losing good people to burnout as well.
There is a real upside to getting this right. Clear expectations reduce resentment, protect wellbeing and help you keep talent. Handled well, the right to disconnect is a retention tool, not just a compliance task.
Tread carefully, because it is a workplace right
This is the part that catches firms out. Because the right to disconnect is a workplace right, you must not take adverse action against someone for exercising it. That includes dismissal, demotion, cutting hours or passing them over.
So the risk is not only the after-hours contact itself. It is how a manager reacts when someone declines to respond. Train your leaders to treat a reasonable refusal as normal, not as a lack of commitment.
How a dispute plays out
If there is a disagreement about the right to disconnect, the parties must first try to resolve it at the workplace. Talk it through, and adjust expectations where needed.
If that does not work, either side can take the dispute to the Fair Work Commission. The Commission can deal with the matter and make orders, including an order to stop unreasonable out-of-hours contact, or an order about an unreasonable refusal. Most firms will never reach that point if they set clear expectations early.
What good firms are doing now
You do not need a heavy policy to get ahead of the right to disconnect. You need clarity and consistency.
Practical steps:
Write a short, plain statement of your after-hours expectations.
Define urgent, and agree on a single channel for genuinely urgent contact.
Where a role needs availability, build it into pay or time off, and say so.
Set client-facing norms, so clients know who to contact and when.
Model the behaviour from the top, because culture beats policy every time.
To make this easy, we have built a companion tool for the right to disconnect.
Download the Right to Disconnect Expectations Kit for Professional Services: [placeholder link]
It includes an expectations template you can adapt, as well as a plain-language reasonableness check for a specific out-of-hours contact.
The bigger picture
Australia is following a well-worn path. France introduced a right to disconnect in 2017, and countries across Europe and beyond have adopted similar measures. The pressures are global: smartphones, remote work and a culture that rewards being always on.
The Australian version reflects a growing focus on psychosocial safety, the idea that overwork and blurred boundaries are workplace hazards, not just personal ones. For professional services, that focus will only sharpen.
For firm owners, the message is steady and practical. Understand the right to disconnect, set fair expectations for clients and staff, and lead from the front. Do that, and you turn a legal obligation into a healthier, more sustainable firm.
SBAAS helps professional services firms and other small businesses turn changes like these into simple, workable policy. If you would like to set clear after-hours expectations, or talk through a tricky situation, we can help. Learn more about how we work at https://sbaas.com.au/about-us/ and start the conversation.
Sources
Fair Work Ombudsman. (2025). Small business employees now have the right to disconnect. https://www.fairwork.gov.au/newsroom/media-releases/2025-media-releases/august-2025/20250826-right-to-disconnect-starts-for-small-business-employees-media-release
Fair Work Commission. (2024). Right to disconnect. https://www.fwc.gov.au/hearings-decisions/major-cases/right-disconnect
Federal Register of Legislation. (2024). Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth). https://www.legislation.gov.au/C2009A00028/latest/text
Eric Allgood is the Managing Director of SBAAS and brings over two decades of experience in corporate guidance, with a focus on governance and risk, crisis management, industrial relations, and sustainability.
He founded SBAAS in 2019 to extend his corporate strategies to small businesses, quickly becoming a vital support. His background in IR, governance and risk management, combined with his crisis management skills, has enabled businesses to navigate challenges effectively.
Eric’s commitment to sustainability shapes his approach to fostering inclusive and ethical practices within organisations. His strategic acumen and dedication to sustainable growth have positioned SBAAS as a leader in supporting small businesses through integrity and resilience.
Qualifications:
- Master of Business Law
- MBA (USA)
- Graduate Certificate of Business Administration
- Graduate Certificate of Training and Development
- Diploma of Psychology (University of Warwickshire)
- Bachelor of Applied Management
Memberships:
- Small Business Association of Australia –
International Think Tank Member and Sponsor - Australian Institute of Company Directors – MAICD
- Institute of Community Directors Australia – ICDA
- Australian Human Resource Institute – CAHRI
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Further Reading
Your After-Hours Email Just Became a Legal Question
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