ARTICLE · 19 NOVEMBER 2025

Weekend worriers – can your boss force you to work weekends?

Stacks Law Firm

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Under the FWA, employees can't be required to work beyond 38 hours or outside normal hours unless reasonable, with new laws protecting their right to disconnect.

AustraliaEmployment and HR

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One of the items on our website - Can your boss force you to work weekends? - continues to attract enquiries, despite being published in 2012. This article is an update.

Discussing whether or not employees can be made to work out of hours requires reference to the way in which the "rules" around employment are developed, communicated and enforced. This process is discussed in our recent article Exactly what is employment law? Piecing together the employment law jigsaw puzzle.

Fair Work Act covers majority of Australian workers

In examining the broader question of the rules around hours of work which presently apply to Australian employees, a good starting point is the central piece of legislation for all workers, the Commonwealth Fair Work Act 2009.

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