A worker could just ask their employer not to ring them after a designated time, an EMA boss says. Photo: 123RF
There is zero need for a new workplace law giving workers the right to ignore after hours contact from bosses, the Employers and Manufacturers Association says.
Millions of workers in Australia now have the right to refuse contact from their employers outside working hours, after a new law took effect on Monday.
The "Right to Disconnect Law" means bosses can't punish workers who don't pick up their phone after clocking off from their shifts - unless that refusal is deemed "unreasonable".
Employers and Manufacturers Association head of advocacy and strategy Alan McDonald hopes a similar law never sees the light of day in New Zealand.
He told Morning Report he couldn't see the point of this country following suit.
There was enough workplace legislation in place already, and if needs be, a worker could just ask their employer not to ring them after a designated time.
Challenged that might not be a realistic option for many workers, McDonald said an Australian-type law would need so many exceptions it would render it "meaningless".
"And the sort of behaviour you're talking about, a law on a bit of paper is not going to change that."
There were already laws covering workplace bullying and harassment.
Most workers had a contract that specified their location and hours of work.
His advice to managers who saw the need to email staff at 3am?
"Just get your 12-year-old to programme your phone for you or laptop so that it will send at 8am instead of 3am."
McDonald also advised workers to turn off their emails but "you don't need another law".
He said France had introduced something similar and it was "widely derided and ignored".
It would be the same in Australia, he predicted.
