Late-Night Harvest Roster Messages: How the Right to Disconnect Works

Featured image: AI-generated fictional illustration of an after-hours work notification.

At 10.30 pm, a farm group chat announces a new start time and asks everyone to confirm immediately. Some workers are asleep. Others are caring for family. The next morning, the supervisor sees missing replies and assumes those workers are unavailable.

A harvest roster needs reliable communication, but an unanswered after-hours message should not become an automatic conclusion about a worker’s commitment or availability.

What the right to disconnect covers

The Fair Work Ombudsman explains that employees can refuse to monitor, read or respond to work contact outside their working hours unless that refusal is unreasonable. The right includes work-related contact from third parties. It began on 26 August 2024 for non-small business employers and 26 August 2025 for small business employers.

The law does not make all after-hours contact unlawful. Relevant factors include the reason for contact, how it is made and its disruption, compensation for availability or additional work, the employee’s role and responsibilities, and personal circumstances such as caring responsibilities. A refusal is unreasonable where the contact is required by law.

For horticulture workplaces, the Horticulture Award’s clause 13A also addresses the right. Check the actual employment arrangements, including any relevant on-call or overtime provisions.

A host’s message can still be work contact

Where a provider employs the crew, a farm host may still send the work-related message. The right is relevant to third-party contact; using the host’s phone or a group chat does not remove that consideration.

The host and provider should agree who issues roster changes and how a worker can raise a concern. Without that agreement, two supervisors may send conflicting instructions and each expect a reply.

Compare the reason for the message

Consider three hypothetical situations. They are planning examples, not legal rulings about what every worker must do.

• A routine update: tomorrow’s block allocation is posted late because the supervisor forgot to send it earlier. Plan to issue this during working hours, with a clear time for the next update.
• A material transport change: a late breakdown changes the morning pickup arrangements. Explain the reason for contact and use the agreed channel, while considering the individual circumstances.
• An agreed availability period: a worker has a specific arrangement to be available for defined duties. Check what that arrangement actually covers, any compensation and the relevant employment conditions.

Calling a message urgent does not settle whether refusing it would be unreasonable. Record the actual reason and assess the relevant factors. A recurring planning delay should prompt a process change, rather than an expectation that the whole crew will keep checking their phones overnight.

Give the crew a communication plan

During induction, explain when ordinary roster information will be issued, which channel carries the confirmed roster and who can authorise a change. Distinguish an information-only message from a request that needs a response.

Agree a practical morning check point for workers who have not seen an update. Consider language, phone access and mobile coverage. A plan that assumes every worker has uninterrupted data access may fail even during working hours.

Discuss exceptional after-hours contact and any availability arrangements individually. Avoid a blanket acknowledgement that claims to remove the right to disconnect. Keep the agreed process accessible to both the host supervisor and the employer’s coordinator.

Use a missing reply to check the process

If a worker does not respond, first check when the message was sent, whether they were working or expected to be available, and whether the instruction was clear. Raise any disagreement through the employer’s process rather than arguing about it in the crew chat.

Connect communication planning with harvest fatigue and roster planning. An effective roster gives workers a dependable way to know where they need to be and a reasonable opportunity to rest between shifts.

Rules checked 2 October 2026. This is general information for national-system workplaces; reasonableness depends on the circumstances.

About the author

Hari Yellina is Chief Executive Officer at Orchard Tech. View his profile and more articles.