Workers who are employed under the Clerks Award will soon be able to use the award to make requests to work from home. Previously, employees who did not have a work from home right in an industrial instrument such as an enterprise agreement would have to request individual flexible work arrangements.
Under a draft determination issued by the Fair Work Commission, employees and employers now have a framework that encourages genuine conversations and agreement making about how working from home modifies conditions such as span of hours, breaks and start and finish times.
The existing flexible work request framework meant employers were often denying requests to work from home because the employer believe there was no special circumstances of the individual employee that justified working from home. The Commission, in making the change, recognised that working from home is simply the reality of a modern workplace and such rights to request should be made available to clerical workers.
Unfortunately, the Commission rejected the Unions submission of implementing requirement that employers must not unreasonably refuse requests. Consequently, any working from home arrangements must be mutually suitable arrangements. Employees will also be able to make use of dispute resolution clauses which have been strengthened because of the new right.
This decision by the Commission continues to implement the position that working from home is a critical part of the modern workplace.
