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

Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan has announced the State Labor government’s intention to legislate a right to work from home for public and private sector employees. The proposed law would provide eligible employees with a right to work from home at least two days a week. Gadens explains.

The Allan Government has announced a consultation process to determine what form the new laws will take, the types and size of businesses they will apply to, the definition of remote work as well as who will be able to perform remote work.

Roundtable discussions involving stakeholders, peak bodies and unions are anticipated to be held from September 2025.

While this initiative is likely to poll well with voters, representatives from employer groups, members of government and the legal profession more widely have raised a number of concerns.

In particular, there will be a question whether any legislated right to work will be enforceable given Victoria’s powers to regulate employment matters have largely been referred to the Commonwealth.

Premier Allan has said that her government is considering ‘multiple legislative options’, such as relying on anti-discrimination laws in the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) as a potential path forward.

Since the announcement, Greens Leader Larissa Waters invited Prime Minister Albanese to ‘work with the Greens’ to implement similar changes on a national level.

Citing the ability to work from home as providing women with the flexibility they need to participate in the labour market and promote economic equality, the Greens proposed an amendment to the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) last month which would have imposed a positive requirement on employers to consider reasonable requests to work from home.

The Federal Labor government has rejected the Greens’ proposal in the Senate.

Despite this, employers should note that the Fair Work Commission is currently considering the inclusion of a ‘right to work from home’ clause in the Clerks – Private Sector Award 2020.

The Clerks Award covers a range of administrative and clerical roles and was described in Justice Hatcher’s President’s statement on the Fair Work Commission’s 2023-2024 Modern Awards Review – Final Report as ‘the most commonly-used award under which working from home is most likely to occur’.

The term that is being developed may be used as a model term for incorporation into other Awards, subject to a decision which is likely to be handed down later this year.

For more detail on the proposed changes, please visit Gadens’ website.