What Australia’s Right to Disconnect Means for Modern Boards

Australia introduced "right to disconnect" laws via amendments to the Fair Work Act in 2024. For decades, the "always-on" executive was a badge of honor. Australia’s Right to Disconnect has moved beyond its initial rollout to become a part of corporate compliance. While the law primarily protects employees, its effects reach the very top of the organization, altering how boards oversee risk, culture, and executive performance.

The New Legal Landscape

At its core, the law grants employees the right to refuse to monitor, read, or respond to work-related contact outside of their ordinary working hours, unless that refusal is "unreasonable."

For boards, the critical takeaway is that the right to disconnect is now a protected workplace right. This means any adverse action taken against an employee (such as being passed over for a promotion or receiving a poor performance review because they are "unreachable" at night) can trigger a General Protections claim. Unlike standard unfair dismissal claims, these often have no financial cap, making them a high-stakes liability for the company.

From Industrial Relations to Psychosocial Risk

Perhaps the most significant impact for boards is the intersection of this law with Work Health and Safety obligations. In Australia, directors have a "positive duty" to manage factors that can cause psychological harm, such as chronic stress or burnout (psychosocial hazards).

Persistent after-hours contact is now explicitly recognized as a psychosocial hazard. If a board allows a culture of availability creep to persist, they are potentially breaching their duty to ensure a safe workplace. Boards must whether their organizational culture inadvertently rewards the very behaviors the law seeks to prevent?

The "Reasonableness" Dilemma for Executives

The law does not offer a blanket ban on contact. Instead, it relies on a reasonableness test. Factors include the nature of the role, the level of responsibility, and for senior leadership whether the individual is compensated for being available.

For C-Suite executives and senior managers, the threshold for "unreasonable refusal" is much higher. A CFO is expected to be reachable during a year-end audit; a CEO must be available during a crisis. However, boards must be careful not to assume that a high salary is a "get out of jail free" card. Even senior leaders have a right to downtime, and boards should clearly define these expectations in executive contracts to avoid "grey areas" that lead to burnout or litigation.

The Role of Governance Technology

Traditional communication tools like email and instant messaging are inherently "intrusive" as they push notifications directly into a person’s private life. Modern governance, however, is shifting toward a "pull" model.

Board portals and centralized management platforms play a vital role here. By housing all critical documents, meeting schedules, and non-urgent communications in a secure, central hub, boards can ensure that directors and executives have access to information on their own terms. It moves the needle from urgent interruption to structured accessibility. An audit trail showing that documents were uploaded well before a meeting provides strong evidence that the board is providing reasonable notice without requiring a midnight email exchange.

Summary: The Board’s 2026 Checklist

To navigate this shift, boards should prioritize the following:

• Policy Oversight: Review internal Right to Disconnect policies to ensure they align with current standards.
• Contractual Clarity: Ensure senior executive contracts explicitly address availability expectations and associated compensation.
• Culture Metrics: Use engagement surveys and health and safety reporting to monitor availability creep and burnout across the workforce.
• Tone from the Top: Model respectful communication by using "send later" email features and avoiding weekend requests for non-critical tasks.

Australia’s Right to Disconnect is more than a rule change. It is a cultural mandate. For boards, the challenge is to move beyond simple compliance and lead an organization where productivity is driven by focus, not by 24/7 connectivity.