勤務時間外の「つながらない」権利認める法律、きょうから施行 豪

【シドニーＡＦＰ＝時事】オーストラリアは２６日、労働者に対して勤務時間外の業務連絡に「つながらない」権利を認める法律を施行した。拒否しても妥当と見なされる場合に限り、上司からの勤務時間外の理不尽な電話や電子メール、連絡を無視してもよいことになる。（写真は観光客を乗せてシドニー港へと向かうボート。オーストラリア・シドニーで〈資料写真〉）
　同法は今年２月に成立し、今月２６日から中規模および大企業を対象に適用。従業員１５名未満の小規模企業には、来年８月２６日以降適用される。
　オーストラリア労働組合評議会は、労働者がワークライフバランスを取り戻すための一手段だと法の施行を歓迎した。
　アンソニー・アルバニージー首相も、自身が率いる中道左派の労働党政権が推進した改革を評価。
　公共放送ＡＢＣに対し、「１日２４時間分の賃金が支払われていないのであれば、２４時間働く必要はない」と語り、「これは心の健康の問題でもある。仕事から離れ、家族や自分の生活とつながる時間を持てるようにするためのものだ」と述べた。
　職場関係問題の規制当局、フェアワーク・オンブズマンは、新法の適用については「常識的なアプローチ」が求められるべきだと指摘。
　この法律によって、労働者が時間外の連絡を不当に拒否しないよう命じられる可能性もあれば、雇用主が従業員に対して連絡への応答を不当に要求しないよう命じられる可能性もあるとした上で、何が妥当とされるかは「状況次第」だとし、判断材料としては、連絡理由、従業員の職務内容、残業や勤務可能な場合の報酬などが考慮され得るとしている。【翻訳編集ＡＦＰＢＢＮｅｗｓ】
〔ＡＦＰ＝時事〕（2024/08/26-18:33）

Australia gave millions of workers the legal right to disconnect on Monday, allowing them to ignore unreasonable out-of-hours calls, emails and texts from their bosses.
People can now refuse to monitor, read, or respond to their employers' attempts to contact them outside work hours -- unless that refusal is deemed unreasonable.
Unions welcomed the legislation, saying it gave workers a way to reclaim some work-life balance.
Today is a historic day for working people, said Michele O'Neil, president of the Australian Council of Trade Unions.
Australian unions have reclaimed the right to knock off after work, she said.
In the streets of Sydney, people appeared to welcome the change.
I have a very hard time disconnecting and even though I may not necessarily be logged on, my brain is constantly working overtime, not-for-profit worker Karolina Joseski told AFP.
So getting that after-hour call from my boss doesn't necessarily help.
- 'Deeply confusing' -
But the reform got a cool welcome from Australia's top industry body.
The 'right to disconnect' laws are rushed, poorly thought out and deeply confusing, the Australian Industry Group said in a statement.
At the very least, employers and employees will now be uncertain about whether they can take or make a call out of hours to offer an extra shift, it said.
The law is similar to those of some European and Latin American countries.
Research indicates that the right to disconnect benefits employees, said University of Sydney associate professor Chris Wright.
More than 70 percent of workers in European Union companies with a right to disconnect policy considered its impact to be positive, according to a November 2023 study by the EU work-related agency Eurofound.
Employees are experiencing availability creep as smartphones and other digital devices put them in reach of their employers, Wright told AFP.
Having a measure that restores to some extent the boundary between people's work and non-work lives is a positive thing, certainly for employees but also for employers, he said, particularly in industries trying to lure new workers.
- 'Commonsense' -
The Australian law, enacted in February, came into force for medium-sized and large companies as of Monday.
Smaller firms with fewer than 15 employees will be covered from August 26, 2025.
The head of Australia's workplace relations regulator, Fair Work Ombudsman Anna Booth, said people should take a commonsense approach to applying the new law.
Under the legislation, workers may be ordered by a tribunal to stop unreasonably refusing out-of-hours contact, and employers likewise may be ordered to stop unreasonably requiring employees to respond, the regulator said.
The question of what is reasonable will depend on the circumstances, the Fair Work Ombudsman said in a statement.
Deciding factors may include the reason for the contact, the nature of the employee's role, and their compensation for working extra hours or being available, it said.
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese hailed the reform, which was pushed through by his centre-left Labor government.
We want to make sure that just as people don't get paid 24 hours a day, they don't have to work for 24 hours a day, he told national broadcaster ABC.
It's a mental health issue, frankly, as well, for people to be able to disconnect from their work and connect with their family and their life.