Labor re-legislating ‘right to disconnect’ after Greens snuck in criminal penalties for bosses

Bosses who unreasonably contact their staff after hours face jail time after the Greens snuck criminal penalties into new ‘right to disconnect’ legislation. Labor is scrambling to fix its own law.

Bosses who unreasonably contact their staff after hours face jail time after the Greens snuck criminal penalties into new “right to disconnect” legislation — leaving Labor scrambling to fix their own law.

The federal government will introduce additional legislation to reverse the inclusion of a penalty of up to 12 months behind bars for employers who breach a Fair Work Commission order to stop contacting employees after hours in its controversial industrial relations bill.

Labor attempted to fix the embarrassing error before its second Closing Loopholes bill sailed through the Senate off the back of deals with the Greens and independent Senators David Pocock and Lidia Thorpe on Thursday, blaming the Coalition for refusing to help.

But the Opposition said Labor had missed the deadline to circulate potential amendments, with Coalition employment and workplace relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash saying the saga only came about because Labor was “so desperate” to pass the bill that it voted for “bad legislation”.
“They tried to put through a rushed amendment after the fact — we refused to grant leave to support Labor’s sham legislative process,’’ she said.

Coalition employment and workplace relations spokeswoman Michaelia Cash has criticised Labor’s rushed ‘right to disconnect’ amendment. Picture: Martin Ollman

Employment and Workplace Minister Tony Burke said the “right to disconnect” law would not come into effect for six months, by which time Labor would have removed the criminal penalty.

“Despite the Opposition’s idiotic and irresponsible behaviour, we will legislate to fix this,” he said.

The Fair Work Commission will be able to set minimum standards for gig workers. Picture: Monique Harmer

Business Council of Australia chief Bran Black says workers may lose flexibility under the IR changes. Picture: Martin Ollman

Australians will legally be allowed to ignore any calls, texts and emails from their employer that they consider “unreasonable”, and if unable to resolve a dispute in the workplace can take the matter to the FWC.

Bosses who breach an order to stop after-hours contact face fines of up to $18,780.

Other measures in the bill — including minimum standards for gig workers like rideshare and food delivery drivers, and a complex multi-step test to define a casual employee — have been slammed by business groups as costly and anti-productive red tape.

Business Council of Australia chief Bran Black condemned the rushed “right to disconnect” amendment and said the change was going to be “enormously difficult to work through in practice”.

“Post-Covid we’ve seen more and more people want to avail themselves of flexibility,” he said. “What we’re concerned about is that these types of changes make the system ultimately far less flexible.”

MCA chief Tania Constable says the IR bill will make doing business more expensive in Australia. Picture: Martin Ollman

Mr Black also said treating gig workers as “employee-like” so the FWC could impose standards, such as a minimum wage, would hit consumers.

“The price of a pizza goes up if this goes wrong,” he said.

In a statement food delivery app DoorDash said the company was “disappointed” the parliament did not adopt more amendments to protect the flexibility of gig workers.

“We remain concerned about how increased consumer costs associated with these reforms could hurt (DoorDash users) and local economies across Australia,” the company said.

Mineral Council of Australia chief Tania Constable said Labor’s bill had “weakened” the economy.

Employment and Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke says the IR bill is a win for gig workers and casuals. Picture: Martin Ollman

“The extensive changes to workplace law will make it more difficult and more costly to do business in Australia, with households ultimately bearing the cost,” she said.

In its first 18 months in office Labor has pushed three tranches of major industrial relations changes through parliament, with Ms Constable warning of a “significant” accumulative impact.

“There can be no equivocation here: these changes will cost Australians dearly, increasing the price of groceries, building materials, transport, fuel, and food delivery, at the worst possible time,” she said.

In Question Time on Thursday, Mr Burke said the IR changes would make a “palpable difference to workers” by securing their jobs and improving wages.

“Today is a good day for casuals, a good day for gig workers, and good day for … people in road transport, and a good day for those workers who want to be able to know that when they’re on their weekend and not being paid, they can enjoy their weekend,” he said.

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Originally published as Labor re-legislating ‘right to disconnect’ after Greens snuck in criminal penalties for bosses