Right to disconnect bill passes Senate but needs urgent fix to remove criminal penalties for employers

Labor will be forced to introduce special legislation to stop employers being exposed to criminal penalties for breaching new right to disconnect orders after the Coalition prevented last-minute amendments to fix the issue. Photograph: Esther Linder/AAP

Labor’s closing loopholes bill has passed the Senate with a Greens amendment creating a new right for employees to disconnect from work emails and calls.

But the final votes were thrown into confusion by the discovery that the bill inadvertently allowed criminal penalties for breach of a stop order by the Fair Work Commission. Labor sought leave to amend this, but was denied by the Coalition.