Business Wodonga's chief executive believes it is reasonable to have a law stopping bosses from harassing employees about work after hours.
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Graham Jenkin was responding to the inclusion of a "right to disconnect" in a new industrial relations bill going through parliament.
The measure would allow employees to take their bosses to the Fair Work Commission if they were persistently contacted by bosses outside their regular shifts.
Industrial Relations Minister Tony Burke said it was still fair for managers to send emails to employees outside work hours or contact them about shifts.
Mr Jenkin said he had not had feedback about the matter, but was not troubled by the new law.
"It's reasonable with certain parameters, but emails should be able to come through at anytime, however there should be no obligation to open them unless you're in an essential area such as medical," Mr Jenkin said.
"I think commonsense applies mostly with this; factory workers aren't going to get a call and hospitality workers might a call about a shift.
"But this is about the boss wanting to get a project done out of hours, when he could wait until the next day, that's what is not acceptable.
"Though if you're in a high paid managerial role, you expect to be on-call beyond nine to five."
North East Border Trades and Labour Council secretary Alison Kairns welcomed the disconnect provision.
"I think the new laws are going to be positive for workers, given that workers need to have their family time to themselves and not be expected to respond to employers when they call or email," Mrs Kairns said.
"It's a positive way for workers to feel like they've got some control over how they work."
Mrs Kairns said anecdotally she was aware of workers feeling they had to respond to bosses after hours or they would lose their jobs, but she added it was not a prevalent issue.
Deputy federal Liberal Party leader and Farrer MP Sussan Ley believes the step is unnecessary.
"This is another example of Labor rolling over to the Greens and creates another level of complexity for our businesses at a time when they are already doing it tough," Ms Ley said.
Independent MP for Indi Helen Haines declined to say if she supported or opposed measures to address after hour calls.
"I will consider the amendments to the Closing Loopholes Bill made by crossbench senators when the bill returns to the House of Representatives next week," Dr Haines said.
The bill passed the Senate on the afternoon of Thursday February 8 after Labor won the support of enough cross benchers to overcome the opposition of Coalition members and other minority senators.
However, the amendment relation to disconnecting from work was not part of the previous version of the bill which was passed by the Lower House 79-60 in November, with Dr Haines and Ms Ley among the naysayers.
