Right to disconnect penalty calculator

Work out the maximum civil penalty if a Fair Work Commission right to disconnect order is breached, for the employer and for each manager involved.

Figures checked 5 November 2026. Free to use, no sign-in.

Employer

For breaching an order, the company maximum is the same whatever the number of employees.

Each separate failure to comply with a term of the order.

Each person involved in a breach can be personally liable (s 550). Enter 0 to leave out.

Maximum penalty

Maximum total penalty

$109,200

1 breach of the order

Employer: 1 × $109,200
$109,200
People involved: 1 × 0 × $21,840
$0
Maximum total
$109,200

When the right applies

Employees of businesses with 15 or more employees have had the right since 26 August 2024, and employees of small businesses since 26 August 2025. An employee can refuse out-of-hours contact unless the refusal is unreasonable, judged on the reason for the contact, how it is made, any pay for being available, the role and the employee’s personal circumstances (s 333M(3)).

  • Out-of-hours contact on its own is not a breach. A penalty can only follow if the Commission has made a stop order and that order is then breached.
  • Maximums per breach: $109,200 for the employer (300 penalty units), $21,840 for each person involved (60 units), at $364 a unit for breaches from 1 July 2026. Courts set penalties case by case and rarely impose the maximum.
  • Not included: adverse action against an employee for using the right, which is a separate general protections claim with its own penalties and compensation.

General information, not legal advice.

How this works

Section 333M of the Fair Work Act lets employees refuse unreasonable out-of-hours contact. Disputes go first to the workplace, then to the Fair Work Commission, which can make a stop order under s 333P. Breaching a term of that order contravenes s 333Q, a civil remedy provision.

The maximum for s 333Q is 60 penalty units for an individual (s 539(2), item 10E) and five times that, 300 units, for a company (s 546(2)). At $364 a unit for contraventions from 1 July 2026, that is $21,840 and $109,200 per breach. A person knowingly involved in a breach, such as a manager, is treated as having contravened it (s 550) and faces the individual maximum.

The calculator multiplies the per-breach maximum by the number of breaches. It is a ceiling, not a prediction of what a court would order.

Legal basis

Checked against these sources on 5 November 2026. Spotted a figure that looks wrong? Tell us.

Questions

Is it a breach to email or call staff after hours?

No. The right to disconnect lets an employee refuse to monitor, read or respond to out-of-hours contact unless refusing is unreasonable. Contacting them is not itself unlawful and carries no penalty. Penalties only follow if the Fair Work Commission makes an order about a dispute and that order is breached, or if an employee is punished for using the right.

When does the right apply to small businesses?

From 26 August 2025. For employers with 15 or more employees it has applied since 26 August 2024. Casual employees count towards the 15 only if they are engaged on a regular and systematic basis.

What happens in a dispute?

The employer and employee must first try to resolve it at the workplace. If that fails, either can ask the Fair Work Commission to deal with it. The Commission can make an order to stop an employee unreasonably refusing contact, or to stop an employer taking action against an employee or requiring them to respond. It cannot order anyone to pay money.

Is there a higher penalty for serious contraventions?

Not for breaching a right to disconnect order. The Fair Work Act sets 60 penalty units for that breach with no serious contravention tier, and the higher maximums for larger companies apply to underpayment-type provisions, not this one.

What if an employee is disciplined for ignoring an after-hours message?

The right to disconnect is a workplace right, so taking adverse action because an employee used it can breach the general protections in the Fair Work Act. That is a separate claim with its own penalties and compensation, and is not included in this calculator.

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Questions the calculator can’t answer?

Workfloor answers pay, award, leave and termination questions for your team, with the Fair Work Act section or award clause behind each answer.

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