The right to disconnect became law for non-small-business employers on 26 August 2024, and for small businesses on 26 August 2025. The provision allows employees to refuse contact — or attempted contact — from their employer outside working hours, unless that refusal is unreasonable. For most office-based workplaces, this is a manageable culture and policy question. For labour hire operations that rely on shift offers, last-minute scheduling, and availability calls made at odd hours, it is a compliance problem with real operational consequences.
Shift workers and labour hire workers are among the populations most exposed to after-hours contact as a routine part of how work is managed. The same practices that have been standard in high-volume workforce operations for years — a consultant calling a worker at 6am to offer a shift, a text message at 9pm for tomorrow’s placement — now need to be assessed against the right to disconnect framework. This article explains what the right covers, why shift workers are a particular risk area, and what labour hire providers and host employers need to adjust.
Programmed’s managed skilled workforce service includes rostering and communication infrastructure designed to reduce after-hours contact friction while maintaining operational coverage. Learn how the managed skilled workforce model works.
Key takeaways
- Employees have the right to refuse contact outside working hours unless that refusal is unreasonable — this is now a protected workplace right under the Fair Work Act.
- Shift workers and labour hire workers are high-risk because after-hours contact for shift changes and availability is built into standard workforce operations.
- The obligation to manage this sits with the provider as employer, but host employers drive the operational behaviour — both parties need to adjust.
What the right to disconnect covers
The right to disconnect, introduced by the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No. 2) Act 2024 and now contained in the Fair Work Act, gives employees the right to refuse to monitor, read, or respond to contact — or attempted contact — from an employer outside of their working hours. This includes phone calls, text messages, emails, and app notifications.
The right is not absolute. A refusal is only protected if it is not unreasonable. The Fair Work Act lists the factors used to assess reasonableness:
- The reason for the contact — genuinely urgent operational matters are treated differently from routine scheduling.
- How disruptive the contact is to the employee — repeated calls or messages late at night are treated differently from a single message.
- Whether the employee is compensated for being available or for working additional hours — if there is an on-call or availability allowance in place, refusal is more likely to be unreasonable.
- The nature of the employee’s role and level of responsibility.
- The employee’s personal circumstances, including family or caring responsibilities.
This is a facts-and-circumstances test applied to each situation. There is no bright line that defines exactly what is reasonable — which is why building practices that minimise after-hours contact by default is more protective than trying to manage individual disputes after the fact.
Why shift workers are the highest-risk population
Shift workers in labour hire operations face a structural mismatch with the right to disconnect. The nature of shift work means that changes, fill-ins, and additional offers often arise at short notice — and the notification necessarily occurs before the worker is next rostered on, which is outside their current working hours.
Common practices that now carry right-to-disconnect risk:
- Consultants calling workers early in the morning or late at night to offer shifts for the next day.
- Text messages sent after hours asking workers to confirm availability for tomorrow or the coming week.
- Phone calls or messages during a worker’s rostered days off regarding schedule changes or coverage gaps.
- App push notifications from rostering platforms sent at any hour without worker-controlled quiet periods.
These practices are not new. In many operations they are simply how workforce management functions. But they are now regulated, and workers have a legal basis to refuse to respond — without that refusal being treated as misconduct or affecting their ongoing engagement.
The provider’s obligations versus the host’s operational demands
The right to disconnect obligation sits with the employer — in a labour hire context, that is the provider. The provider cannot require workers to monitor or respond to contact outside working hours as a condition of engagement. Disciplining or disadvantaging a worker for exercising their right to disconnect is a breach of their general protections under the Fair Work Act.
The complication is that after-hours contact in labour hire operations is largely driven by the host’s operational demands — last-minute absences, unexpected volume increases, site-specific requirements that arise outside business hours. The host tells the provider it needs bodies on site at 6am tomorrow; the provider contacts workers that evening to fill the gap. The provider is the one making the contact, but the host is generating the need.
This does not shift the legal obligation — it sits with the provider. But it does mean that providers and host employers need to work together to reduce the frequency of genuinely last-minute demands that necessitate after-hours contact. A host that consistently generates coverage requirements at 8pm for a 6am start is creating structural right-to-disconnect risk in its provider’s operations.
For related obligations on rostering and casual arrangements, see our articles on casual conversion obligations and fixed-term contract limits.
What labour hire providers should adjust
The right to disconnect requires providers to review their shift communication practices, not just update a policy document. Practical adjustments include:
- Advance planning windows: shift offers should be made as far in advance as possible — 48 hours minimum as a target, with same-day offers reserved for genuinely unavoidable gaps.
- Defined contact hours: establish and communicate to workers the hours during which shift offers and availability contact will normally be made. Outside these hours, contact should be limited to genuine emergencies.
- On-call arrangements: if workers are expected to be available for contact outside rostered hours, this should be formalised as an on-call arrangement with the applicable allowance paid. Check the relevant award — most awards contain on-call provisions.
- Opt-in availability frameworks: rather than contacting all available workers when a shift arises, use systems that let workers register availability in advance and receive automated offers within their preferred contact windows.
- Rostering system settings: configure push notification quiet hours in any WFM or rostering app to align with the defined contact hours policy.
What host employers need to understand
If you are directing how labour hire workers are rostered — setting schedules, adjusting headcount, calling for additional coverage — you are materially influencing the contact pattern that your provider’s workers experience. While the legal obligation sits with the provider, you have a practical responsibility to manage your operational demands in ways that support compliant workforce management.
Raise your right-to-disconnect practices as an agenda item with your labour hire provider. Ask how they manage after-hours shift offers, whether workers are paid on-call allowances where applicable, and what their approach is to genuinely urgent coverage needs. Build after-hours contact protocols into your service level agreement so both parties are working from the same framework.
Related reading
W42-02: After-Hours Contact and Rostering: Managing Obligations for Contingent Workforces
Related services
Managed Skilled Workforce — structured workforce delivery with rostering infrastructure and compliance protocols for shift-based operations.
MSP and People Solutions — end-to-end contingent workforce management including workforce technology, rostering governance, and compliance oversight.
FAQ
Does the right to disconnect apply to casual labour hire workers?
Yes. The right to disconnect applies to all employees, including casuals. A casual labour hire worker has the right to refuse to monitor or respond to contact outside their rostered hours. The casual nature of the engagement does not remove that right — and the lack of guaranteed hours makes it more important, not less, that any expectation of availability is formalised and compensated properly.
What if a worker refuses a shift offer because they didn’t respond to an after-hours message?
If the worker exercised their right to disconnect by not responding, treating that as a refusal to work — or using it as a reason to reduce future shift offers — would likely breach their general protections under the Fair Work Act. Workers cannot be disadvantaged for exercising a workplace right. If last-minute shift offers are a regular operational requirement, that points to a need for an on-call arrangement with the applicable allowance, not an informal expectation that workers monitor messages at all hours.
When is it reasonable to contact a worker after hours?
There is no fixed rule, but genuine operational emergencies — a safety incident, a critical coverage gap that cannot be filled any other way — are the clearest cases. Routine shift offers, schedule reminders, and availability checks are not emergencies. The more frequently after-hours contact is characterised as urgent, the weaker that characterisation becomes and the more likely a Fair Work Commission dispute will go against the employer.
Does the right to disconnect apply to contact from the host employer?
Labour hire workers are employed by the provider, not the host. The right to disconnect as legislated applies to contact from the employer. However, if the host is routinely contacting labour hire workers directly — rather than going through the provider — this raises questions about the nature of the arrangement and the host’s obligations. As a rule, hosts should direct shift management and communication through the provider, not directly to workers.
Next step
If your workforce operations rely on after-hours contact to manage shift coverage, the right to disconnect framework requires a structural review of how you communicate with workers — not just a policy update. Talk to Programmed about how managed shift communication and rostering infrastructure can reduce after-hours contact exposure while maintaining the operational flexibility you need.
Explore managed skilled workforce solutions.
General information only: This article is for general informational purposes only and does not constitute legal advice. Legislation varies by state and territory — consult a qualified employment lawyer or Fair Work adviser for guidance specific to your situation.
