Lawyers can only refuse unreasonable out-of-hours contact.
Australian lawyers have had the right to refuse work or client communications outside of office hours since Monday, and while that may not lead to a strict 5 p.m. cutoff, observers believe it could prompt firm leaders to reassess their expectations of associates and partners.
Known as the ‘right to disconnect’, the new law gives workers in all industries the right to refuse to monitor, read, or respond to contact or attempted contact outside their working hours unless doing so is unreasonable, according to Australia’s Fair Work Ombudsman.
