New laws are being introduced in Australia to prevent employers from contacting staff outside of their working hours.
"The right to disconnect" bill means workers can ignore texts, calls, and emails when they aren't at work and avoid being penalised.
ABC reported the laws could also mean if an employee raises concerns regarding an employer's contact out of work hours, employees could be fined AU$18,000.
Australia prime minister Anthony Albanese told ABC last week his government will "fix up" its right-to-disconnect laws.
"It won't mean anything it'll just mean we fix it up through separate legislation because this legislation isn't due to take effect for many months, so it won't mean anything," Albanese said.
Speaking to Breakfast this morning, management professor Jarrod Haar said around 20% of the New Zealand work force say they are working after hours.
"I'm not saying we should legislate this thing but it is a good reminder to employers that there's only one way it'll go, in the end you'll either burn out your workers and they'll quit anyway or unions will keep pushing till they get some legislation to protect worker rights.
"[The laws] are really just about giving workers that protection so they're able to say no I'm not going to answer the phone."
He said a lot of employees may not take it seriously until workers can say it's against the law for them to be contacted during out of office hours.
Haar said technology plays a big role in the issue, with phones and social media meaning people are contactable 24/7, no matter where they are.
"Whatever you do don't let work time eat into family time and if you're single, find someone to hang with. If there is just so much work and you don't want to be overwhelmed at the start of the week, set aside two nights a week where you do a little extra work."
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