On 16 June 2026, the Victorian government introduced the Equal Opportunity Amendment (Work from Home) Bill 2026 (Vic) (the WFH Bill). The WFH Bill proposes a significant shift in workplace arrangements by embedding a statutory right for eligible employees to work from home for up to two days per week, where it is reasonable to do so.

Date of Commencement

The WFH Bill is expected to take effect on 1 September 2026. However, small businesses (employers with fewer than 15 employees) will have a deferred commencement date of 1 July 2027.

Right to Work From Home

The proposed reform moves working from home from a discretionary arrangement to a statutory entitlement. Employees will have a right to work from home where their role can reasonably be performed remotely as follows:

• Up to two days per week for full-time employees; and
• A pro-rata entitlement for part-time employees (with the calculation method to be set by the regulations).

This places the onus on employers to justify any refusal, similar to flexible working arrangements for employees with certain protected attributes under the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (the FW Act).

Eligible Employees

Many employees will be considered “eligible” to exercise the right, with limited exclusions that include:

• Employees on probation;
• Employees undertaking an apprenticeship, traineeship, internship, graduate program, work experience program or similar program;
• Certain 'regulated workers' within the meaning of the FW Act (e.g. gig...

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