Dumping a policy during an election campaign wouldn’t be unprecedented, but it’s probably not that common either. So Opposition Leader Peter Dutton’s move to spike a requirement for Commonwealth public servants to return to the office full-time, is being seen as a measure of the depth of feeling among many Australians about working from home. But what are the legal parameters of the issue, and have we underestimated the role of WFH post-COVID?
Mia Pantechis is a Principal in employment and industrial law at Maurice Blackburn. She says the pandemic showed what was possible when it comes to workplace flexibility, which was already a big issue for employees. “And I think this policy and its announcement raised alarm bells and concern around the Australian working population about whether we were going to start to see a shift to the approach taken pre-COVID and whether this flexibility was here to stay or not.”
It is now commonplace for organisations to have a flexible working policy, which requires a certain proportion of time in the office. In other cases, arrangements may be determined at a team level and negotiated with managers.
Under the Fair Work Act, certain employees can request flexible working arrangements and if the request is refused, employers must explain why, and the reason must be based on reasonable business grounds.
Changes made by the Labor government allow employees to challenge such a refusal in the Fair Work Commission, if they believe those grounds are...
The House Prosecution panel on Friday countered Vice President Sara Duterte’s statements in her answer ad cautelam (for caution), saying that she made “several misleading and false material statem...