The right to disconnect, introduced through the Fair Work Legislation Amendment (Closing Loopholes No.2) Bill 2023, grants Australian employees the entitlement to ignore work-related communication outside of working hours, except when deemed unreasonable. This amendment seeks to balance work-life boundaries by allowing employees to disengage after work hours, unless specific criteria for reasonableness are met.

The changes introduced by the Fair Work Amendments, which we will cover in this update, include provisions to:

• Abolition of the Australian Building and Construction Commission (ABCC) and Registered Organisations Commission (ROC)

• Prohibition on pay secrecy

• Prohibition on advertising contravening pay rates

• Sunsetting ‘zombie’ agreements

Do you understand the changes as a result of the amendment to the Fair Work legislation passed on 6 December 2022? What are the changes, how will they affect your organisation, and when exactly will they come into effect?

The Anti-Discrimination and Human Rights Legislation Amendment (Respect at Work) Bill 2022 (the Bill) has been introduced to Parliament this week.

The recent amendment made to the Work Health and Safety Regulation 2017 (NSW) by the Work Health and Safety Amendment Regulation 2022 (NSW) imposes an explicit obligation on persons conducting a business or undertaking (PCBUs) to manage and control psychosocial risks in the workplace, from 1 October 2022.