Kevin O’Leary says ‘right to disconnect’ laws are crazy, and he’ll just fire staff who don’t answer his texts and calls

“Who dreams this crap up is my question. And why would anybody propose such a stupid idea?” Kevin O’Leary said of Australia’s new “right to disconnect” law.

The “Shark Tank” star Kevin O’Leary isn’t a fan of Australia’s new “right to disconnect” law.

The law, which went into effect on August 26, allows most workers to ignore after-hours calls and texts from their bosses without fear of retaliation.

Similar laws have been passed in countries such as France and Belgium.

“What happens if you have an event in the office and it’s closed?” O’Leary said during an interview on Fox News’ “Outnumbered” talk show last week.

“Or you have an emergency somewhere, and you have to get a hold of them at two in the morning because it affects the job they’re working on and their mandate within the organization?” he added.

In Australia, employees can now ignore their bosses after hours. Let me ask you this… What happens during an emergency? This kind of policy is nonsense. If you can’t be reached when the job depends on it, you’re out. Who dreams up these ridiculous ideas? If someone tells me… pic.twitter.com/s0BOGFrSfV

— Kevin O’Leary aka Mr. Wonderful (@kevinolearytv) August 28, 2024
O’Leary added that allowing workers to ignore such late-night communications made no sense to him.

“This kind of stuff just makes me crazy. It’s so dumb. It just — who dreams this crap up is my question. And why would anybody propose such a stupid idea?” he said on the show.

When asked what he would do if any of his staff chose to go on “silent mode,” O’Leary said he wouldn’t hesitate to let them go.

“Yeah, the next moment is, I just fire them,” he said.

To be sure, most Australian employees would probably still have to respond to their bosses’ calls under the scenarios posited by O’Leary.

“If it was an emergency situation, of course people would expect an employee to respond to something like that,” Australia’s minister for employment and workplace relations, Murray Watt, said in an interview with Australia’s ABC News.

Someone who isn’t being paid 24 hours a day shouldn’t be penalised if they’re not available and online 24 hours a day.

Today Labor’s right to disconnect laws come into effect, which protect you from being punished for not being available outside of work hours. pic.twitter.com/kFLTdGRUoO

— Senator Murray Watt (@MurrayWatt) August 25, 2024
The law, Watt said, would instead home in on more-trivial requests.

“But if it’s a run-of-the-mill thing, and let’s face it, we all get emails and phone calls like that from our boss about things that can actually wait till the next workday, then they should wait till the next workday.”

Representatives for O’Leary didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment sent outside regular business hours.