An Australian employer has been ordered to pay nearly a year's worth of wages to a female employee after a supervisor "inappropriately" contacted her while she was on sick leave.
The woman was at home sick with rhinovirus (the common cold) for four days, during which time the supervisor called her phone seven times and sent several emails, The Australian Financial Review (AFR) reported. The unnamed company has since been ordered to pay 80 percent of the woman's wages backdated to June 2023, plus "reasonable" ongoing compensation until she returns to work.
Diana Benk from the NSW Personal Injury Commission, who presided over the case, said the repeated attempts to contact the woman while on leave "was not reasonable action".
"I am not alone in my views," she added.
"This is because at the beginning of 2024, the federal government sought to initiate Right to Disconnect legislation," Benk said.
Australia's Right to Disconnect laws, due to take effect in August, will let employees refuse contact from their employer or clients outside of normal work hours.
The legislation allows workers to refuse any communication, such as texts, emails, calls or work messaging apps.
During the case, the supervisor argued they thought they may have had to call police to check on the worker's welfare, as she didn't respond.
But Benk slammed the supervisor's contact attempts as "hostile" and "inappropriately done", according to AFR.
The worker said she felt harassed and her anxiety meant she couldn't work for 18 months, 7 News reported. The Personal Injury Commission also found the worker tried to call her supervisor back and had said she was getting a medical certificate.
Natasha Hawker, the boss of Australian HR consultancy Employee Matters, said the Right to Disconnect laws could spark further compensation claims in August.
"I think it's highly likely it will increase the compensation [for employees]," Hawker told 7 News' Sunrise programme.
She said work and personal lives have been blurred over time.
"And I think we need to pull those back into line," Hawker said.
She added "a lot" of businesses contact their employees at "inappropriate times".
"What we need to do is make sure that our employers and our employees are aware, and they have policies and procedures in place so that they don't contact people when it's not appropriate."
