Australians Get Right to Ignore Office Calls, Emails After Hours

Australia will soon follow some European nations in giving workers the right to disconnect after office hours, leaving businesses facing potential punitive consequences for calling or emailing their employees once they’ve clocked out.

The right to disconnect will be included as part of a major tranche of industrial relations legislation proposed by the center-left Labor government. The measure could potentially pass as soon as this week, following a deal with the Australian Greens party and independent senators on Wednesday.

The final form of the legislation is yet to be released, but under an amendment proposed by the Greens, an employee ...