Victoria's Allan Government says it is considering using the State's equal opportunity laws to enshrine a two-day-per-week work-from-home "right" for public and private sector employees, while an IR expert suggests questions around its enforceability might be beside the point.
A worker who insisted on toiling from his hospital bed almost immediately after bowel surgery has failed to overturn his dismissal for repeatedly flouting a direction to work within ordinary hours.
A FWC full bench led by President Adam Hatcher has abruptly ended conciliation of the crucial clerks award WFH case after a "highly regrettable" leak of confidential information to the media, while issuing a broader warning that participants should respect processes conducted behind-closed-doors.
Just 6% of clerical workers who seek WFH arrangements are knocked back by their employer, according to a new Swinburne University study commissioned by the FWC as part of the work from home test case.
The FWC has held that it has no power under the Fair Work Act's flexible work dispute provisions to deal with a National Australia Bank worker's challenge to the cancellation of her WFH flexibility arrangement after she allegedly failed to comply with its terms.
The Coalition has reversed its stance on working from home in the federal public sector, while also shifting its position on slashing the APS workforce by 41,000, saying it will now be achieved over five years by natural attrition and hiring freezes, but the CPSU is warning this will still have a "devastating" effect on services.
The FWC has upheld a worker's flexible work request after his employer ended an informal 13-year arrangement, in a decision reaffirming the precedence of the NES, even when it is inconsistent with the terms of an enterprise agreement.
The Greens have launched a four-day work week election policy under which it would fund a new national institute to coordinate industry trials, while the FWC today starts hearing an ARA bid to have a compressed-hours four-day work week included in Australia's most broadly used award, along with a host of other changes.
Nine in 10 women responding to a major CPSU survey say it is "very important" to be able to work from home and those who do are more likely to be satisfied with their work-life balance, while the ACTU says Coalition plans to force public servants back to the office if it wins government will hurt productivity and women's job opportunities.
The FWC has overruled an employer's resistance to a working parent's request to work an extra day a fortnight at home to care for his toddler daughter until she reaches two years of age, while rejecting its claims that it would set a precedent for the remainder of its workforce.
