The right to work from home: Premier Allan’s promise to Victorian voters

Over the weekend, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan announced that the State Labor government intends to legislate a right to work from home at least two days a week for public and private sector employees.

The Government plans to undertake consultation with relevant stakeholders to determine the appropriate form for these laws, with a view of introducing and passing legislation ahead of the next state election in 2026. Consultation will be focused towards determining what kinds of businesses will be affected by the scheme and which employees will be reasonably able to perform remote work, with the aim of reflecting ‘the real-world experience of working from home’ in the law.

While the initiative is likely to garner favour from voters, representatives from employer groups, as well as members of government and the legal profession have been quick to raise their concerns. An obvious question will be whether legislation of this kind will be enforceable in the private sector in circumstances where Victoria has referred the majority of its powers to regulate employment matters to the Commonwealth. Premier Allan has said that the Government is considering ‘multiple legislative options’, including the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) as a path forward. Regardless of the legislative approach, it will be interesting to see whether the Allan Government’s work from home legislation will be able to withstand constitutional challenge.

This announcement comes at a time when the Fair Work Commission is considering including a new ‘working from home’ right in the Clerks – Private Sector Award 2020. That award applies to many administrative and clerical roles across the country and may be the model term (once developed) for some other awards. The inclusion of such a term is likely to have a significant impact on employers more broadly. That case is still in progress with a decision likely later this year.

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Authored by:

George Haros, Partner

Emilia Norwood, Graduate