Shark Tank millionaire Kevin O’Leary has slammed Australia’s new right to disconnect law as ‘so dumb’ in a very blunt social media post.
Millions of workers were given the legal right to ignore calls, emails and texts from their bosses after hours unless refusal is deemed ‘unreasonable’ on Monday, leaving O’Leary stunned.
‘If someone tells me they’re in “silent mode”, they’re fired,’ the Canadian businessman said in a fiery X post on Thursday.
The 70-year-old is best known as one Shark Tank’s startup-funding venture capitalists and has an estimated net worth of $590million (US$400M).
‘In Australia, employees can ignore their bosses after hours,’ he began his latest segment on Fox News.
‘What happens if you have an event in the office and it’s closed, or you have an emergency somewhere and you have to get a hold of them at 2am in the morning because it affects the job they’re working on and their mandate within the organisation?’ he asked.
‘This kind of stuff just makes me crazy, it’s so dumb. Who dreams this crap up is my question and why would anybody propose such a stupid idea?’
O’Leary has a reputation for being the bluntest panellist on the popular business reality TV series.
Shark Tank millionaire Kevin O’Leary has slammed Australia’s new right-to-disconnect law as ‘so dumb’, and wondered who would dream up such a ‘stupid idea’
‘If someone tells me they’re in “silent mode”, they’re fired,’ the Canadian businessman said in a fiery X post on Thursday
He’s known for regularly voicing criticisms of contestants’ business models and product pitches, sometimes earning a social media backlash as a result.
Once, he jokingly offered a Dragon’s Den contestant who he didn’t like $100,000 to ‘burst into flames.’
Under the new legislation, workers may be ordered by a tribunal to stop unreasonably refusing out-of-hours contact, and employers likewise may be ordered to stop unreasonably requiring employees to respond.
The question of what is reasonable will ‘depend on the circumstances’, the Fair Work Ombudsman said in a statement.
The new laws will legally protect workers from being forced to take non-emergency calls and respond to emails outside of business hours.
‘If someone tells me they’re in ‘silent mode’, they’re fired,’ O’Leary said when he slammed Australia’s new law on Thursday
Employees of large companies can refuse to respond to ‘unreasonable’ after-hours calls from their employer. Not answering the phone will be unreasonable if the contact is required by law.
If the call or email is not required to be answered by law, reasonableness will be judged by the worker’s job responsibility level, how disruptive the contact was and whether they were compensated.
However, the changes do not prohibit an employer actually sending the email or message outside work hours.
Companies found in breach of the rules can be liable to civil fines up to $19,800.
The new federal laws will apply to businesses 15 or more staff as of August 26, 2025. Smaller companies have another 12 months to adapt to the change.
O’Leary isn’t the only celebrity to speak out about the new legislation, with shock jock Kyle Sandilands recently warning Australian workers not to get too excited about the changes.
Kyle Sandilands has issued a dire warning to Australian workers as the government’s new ‘right to disconnect’ laws come into effect on Monday
‘It doesn’t mean they won’t railroad you out behind the scenes,’ the radio host, 53, said on his KISS FM Kyle and Jackie O Show this week.
Kyle argued that while it would be illegal, under the new legislation, for bosses to punish workers for not responding after hours, some unscrupulous managers could find ways around the laws.
‘Don’t think for a second: ‘Screw that real estate agent boss’,’ Kyle said.
‘Because eventually they will find a way to get rid of you to work around the boundaries.’
Kyle also urged all Aussie workers to not abuse the system.
‘Everyone you can say, ‘oh by law, I don’t have to respond to that’ and they will then go, ‘no worries’.’
‘And then they get you for every little tiny infringement. You will go if they want you to go, one way or another. So, don’t abuse the system.’
Kyle’s co-host Jackie O Henderson, 49, agreed with Kyle’s warning adding that being contacted outside of work hours was a modern problem.
‘I feel like that might happen,’ Jackie said.
‘I think it’s sometimes because the thing is that work hours now are infinity. When you didn’t have email and mobile phones, you never got bothered outside of work hours.’
Kyle replied: ‘And nothing got done. It was the late 1970s. The world spun very slowly back then.’
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has responded to critics of the changes, pointing out people aren’t paid 24 hours a day and so shouldn’t have to work as such.
‘It’s a mental health issue, frankly, as well, for people to be able to disconnect from their work and connect with their family and their life,’ he told ABC News.
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