This Christmas Feels Different: Shutdowns, Leave and the Right to Disconnect
For many Australian businesses, December is usually a mix of deadlines, Christmas parties and trying to get everyone on leave at the right time.
This year there’s an extra layer: the new “right to disconnect” is bedding in at the same time as shutdown rules and annual leave obligations. For employers, the holiday period is now a live test of how clearly you set boundaries and how well you manage time off.
What the Right to Disconnect Actually Means
Recent changes to the Fair Work Act give employees a right to disconnect from work outside their ordinary hours, which means they can:
Refuse to monitor, read or respond to work contact (calls, emails, messages) outside working hours
Unless that refusal would be unreasonable in the circumstances
The law doesn’t ban after-hours contact. It focuses on reasonableness. When working out whether an employee’s refusal is unreasonable, things like these are relevant:
Why you are contacting them (genuine urgency vs convenience)
How often you contact them out of hours
Their role and level of responsibility
Whether they are compensated or formally “on call”
Their personal circumstances (for example, caring responsibilities)
Importantly, the right to disconnect is now a workplace right. That means you can’t take adverse action against an employee (for example, cutting hours or overlooking promotion) because they reasonably push back on out-of-hours contact.
Shutdowns, Annual Leave and Notice
At the same time, many modern awards now have refreshed temporary shutdown clauses:
Employers can usually require employees to take paid annual leave during a shutdown, but only if the award or enterprise agreement allows it
Most awards require at least 28 days’ written notice of a shutdown and the requirement to take leave
If there is no shutdown clause, you generally cannot force unpaid leave – you need agreement
So you may be asking people to use leave while also needing to respect their right to be properly “off” once that leave starts.
Why This Matters Now
Put simply:
Staff will be on annual leave or during a shutdown
You may still need someone to deal with genuine issues
Old habits (texting people at all hours, late-night emails) now sit uncomfortably against the new legal framework
This holiday period is a live test of your culture: do you respect people’s time off, or do you treat it as “always available unless they complain”?
Practical Actions Before the Break
You don’t need a 30-page policy to get this right. A few clear, practical steps will do most of the heavy lifting.
Get honest about your current habits
Ask yourself (and your managers):
Who do we regularly contact out of hours?
How often is it genuinely urgent?
Are any employees effectively “on call” with no formal arrangement or compensation?
Even an informal stocktake will highlight where you need to tighten things up.
Set simple boundaries for the holiday period
Decide and communicate some basic rules, for example:
During shutdown/leave, contact will be limited to genuine emergencies affecting safety, security or critical operations
Non-urgent matters will be emailed or added to a task list to be dealt with when staff return
If someone needs to be on call, that will be agreed in advance, documented and paid in line with the relevant award
This can be a short paragraph in your shutdown or leave communication – it doesn’t need to be complex.
Align your shutdown notice and your contact expectations
If you are closing over Christmas and New Year:
Check the relevant award shutdown clause and notice rules
Confirm shutdown dates, leave requirements and pay arrangements in writing
In the same notice, spell out what employees can expect in terms of contact (for example, “no expectation to check email while on leave”)
This shows you have genuinely considered both leave and the right to disconnect in one go.
Brief your managers
Most day-to-day issues will come from managers, not owners.
Give them a short briefing and some examples of:
Reasonable contact (genuine emergencies, pre-agreed on-call arrangements)
Likely unreasonable contact (late-night texts about non-urgent tasks, repeated calls on annual leave)
Provide some simple phrases they can use with clients (“We’re in shutdown but our on-call manager can help if it’s urgent”) and with staff (“No need to check emails while you’re on leave – we’ll catch you up when you’re back”).
What If You Get It Wrong?
If you ignore the new framework:
Employees may complain internally, go to the Fair Work Ombudsman or raise a dispute in the Fair Work Commission
The Commission can make orders about contact and boundaries, and breaching those orders can lead to penalties
You may also face general protections claims if adverse action is linked to someone exercising their right to disconnect
Beyond the legal risk, constant after-hours contact erodes trust and burns people out. That’s expensive in recruitment, retention and productivity terms.
Bringing It Together for 2026
The message from all of this is simple:
Be clear about when people are working and when they’re not
Pay them correctly for the time they genuinely work
Don’t treat personal time as an unlimited extension of the workplace
This holiday season is a chance to reset expectations, not just tick a compliance box.
If you put in place a few clear boundaries now – around shutdowns, annual leave and after-hours contact – you’ll start 2026 with fewer disputes, better engagement and a much stronger story to tell your team about how you respect their time.
If you’re not confident your shutdown plans, leave processes or after-hours expectations align with the current Fair Work framework, Winnchester Consulting can help. Book your consultation now.
