Australian workplace law has changed more in the last two years than in the previous decade. If you run a small business and haven't reviewed your policies since 2024, there's a good chance you're missing at least one of these. 1. The right to disconnect Since 26 August 2025, this applies to small business employers too. Employees now have the right to refuse to monitor, read, or respond to work contact outside their working hours, unless that refusal would be unreasonable. W

If you engage anyone in your business who isn't a full-time employee (eg. a bookkeeper, a designer, a delivery driver, a consultant), then this question is worth ten minutes of your time. Getting it wrong is one of the most common (and most expensive) mistakes small business owners make in Australia. The old approach doesn't work anymore For a long time, the safest way to think about this was: what does the contract say? If it said "independent contractor," and the person had