Millions of workers in Australia have just been given the legal right to ignore after-hours demands from their boss—and the development isn’t sitting well with some corporate leaders. In fact, Shark Tank star Kevin O'Leary said that the new law makes him “crazy”.
“It’s so dumb,” the Canadian businessman said on Fox News. “Who dreams this crap up is my question? Why would anyone propose such a stupid idea?”
The Australian law, which went into effect on Aug. 26, follows the likes of France and Spain in giving workers the right to unplug from their work phones, laptops and messaging apps in their personal time without repercussions—unless their refusal is deemed "unreasonable".
But O'Leary was stunned by the idea that an employer's 2 a.m. texts could be left unread.
“What happens if you have an event in the office and it’s closed? Or you have an emergency somewhere and you have to get a hold of them at two in the morning because it affects the job they’re working on?”
“This kind of policy is nonsense,” the 70-year-old continued in a subsequent social media post, before adding that he’d fire staff for not taking his calls.
“If you can’t be reached when the job depends on it, you’re out… If someone tells me they’re in 'silent mode,' they’re fired.”
In Australia, employees can now ignore their bosses after hours. Let me ask you this... What happens during an emergency? This kind of policy is nonsense. If you can’t be reached when the job depends on it, you’re out. Who dreams up these ridiculous ideas? If someone tells me… pic.twitter.com/s0BOGFrSfV
— Kevin O'Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) August 28, 2024
Fortune has contacted O'Leary for comment.
The law takes into account seniority and emergencies
Before finding fame on the TV show Shark Tank, O’Leary co-founded various ventures, including the educational software company Softkey (later known as The Learning Company), which Mattel acquired for around $4 billion in 1999. Now, he’s investing in other founders’ businesses through O’Leary Ventures and O’Leary Funds.
It’s hardly surprising that, as an investor, O'Leary highly values the smooth operation of a business and has concerns about employers’ ability to reach their staff in urgent situations.
In practice, however, most Australian employees would likely still be expected to answer their bosses' calls in the circumstances O'Leary describes.
"If it was an emergency situation, of course, people would expect an employee to respond to something like that," Australia's minister for employment and workplace relations Murray Watt said in an interview with Australia's ABC News.
"But if it's a run-of-the-mill thing, and let's face it, we all get emails and phone calls like that from our boss about things that can actually wait till the next work day, then they should wait till the next work day."
Someone who isn’t being paid 24 hours a day shouldn’t be penalised if they’re not available and online 24 hours a day.
— Senator Murray Watt (@MurrayWatt) August 25, 2024
Today Labor’s right to disconnect laws come into effect, which protect you from being punished for not being available outside of work hours. pic.twitter.com/kFLTdGRUoO
Companies that breach the rules could face civil fines up to $19,800.
However, Australia’s work tribunal would take into account a worker’s seniority, as well as the reason for contacting staff outside of their employed hours.
“If we’re talking a about a senior employee in an organization, there’s probably more of an expectation that they would be checking and responding to things than someone who’s very junior,” Watt added.
“It’s really about trying to bring back some work-life balance and make sure that people aren’t racking up hours of unpaid overtime for checking emails and responding to things at a time that they’re not being paid.”
