Fair Work win for thousands of Aussies who will now get the legal right to request to work from home
Clerical and administrative workers will have their legal awards updated with rights to request to work from home from next week in a ruling by the Fair Work Commission (FWC) which has been hailed as 'historic'.
A commission full bench headed by judge and FWC President Adam Hatcher approved the working from home term to be inserted into the Clerks Award, which covers hundreds of thousands of Australian workers.
The Council of Small Business Organisations Australia had sought a six-month delay to the award change, arguing that small businesses relied on clerical workers for payroll and workforce software providers, as well as bookkeepers and advisers to help translate the award changes.
However, the ruling stopped short of supporting a 'major regulatory intervention' which was drafted in the draft term in August which would have compelled employers to give workers greater WFH rights.
'The findings we have made concerning the extent and nature of working from home arrangements in the area of employment covered by the Clerks Award do not, we consider, justify a major regulatory intervention by way of a new award provision compelling employers to allow employees to work from home in a wider range of circumstances,' it said back in August.
'Therefore, the variation determination will operate from 26 October 2026.'
Under the new clause, an individual employee may request in writing to work from home, conditional upon agreement from an employer – either at their residence or at another location chosen by the employee that is approved by the employer.
The request must include which day the worker intends to work away from the office and include the number or portion of days – including regular patterns of flexible work location.
Business groups labelled the new award 'historic', noting that they empowered both workers and employers to negotiate arrangements that suited their circumstances whilst proving the Victorian WFH laws (two days per week for full-time workers or a pro-rata equivalent for part-time and casual employees) were unnecessary.