Source : Perth Now news
Regular casual and part-time workers will now be included in the Victorian government’s new laws to protect employees’ rights to work from home.
Premier Jacinta Allan announced further details about the laws on Tuesday ahead of the government introducing the legislation into parliament.
“The Bill will amend the Equal Opportunities Act to create the right to work from home,” Ms Allan told parliament.
“We know bosses want to take it away, Liberals want to cut it and Labor wants to protect it.”
The introduction of the Bill follows the decision last year to require employers to allow their workers to work from home two days a week where possible.
“Work from home works for families, because it saves time and money and it gets more parents working,” Ms Allan said.
“That’s why we will protect work from home in law from 1 September.”
The government said the change would save Victorian workers more than $5000 a year while also cutting congestion and saving Victorians more than three hours a week on average commuting.
The announcement comes as speculation of a leadership spill after an eye-to-eye promise from Deputy Premier Ben Carroll not to challenge Ms Allan at Labor’s caucus meeting on Tuesday.
The Premier and Deputy Premier walked into the caucus meeting together on Tuesday morning in a further show of solidarity, before emerging with the status quo intact.
Polling by DemosAU/PremierNational on Friday showed Labor’s primary vote at just 21 per cent, behind the Coalition on 30 per cent and One Nation on 23 per cent.
Victorians will vote in the state election on November 28, with Labor aiming for a fourth consecutive win.
How the new WFH laws will work
If the laws pass parliament, they will come into effect from September 1, 2026; however, workplaces with fewer than 15 employees will have until July 1, 2027 to implement the new rules.
Further guidance on how pro-rata entitlements will work will be released before September.
The new right to work from home will be enshrined in the Equal Opportunity Act and will apply regardless of the size of the business.
Any disputes will go to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission for conciliation and if that fails, the dispute will be heard at the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry said they opposed the proposed legislation in a submission from October last year.
“Complex, duplicative and unnecessary regulation of these matters undermines the employer and employee relationship, and adds to the many disincentives for businesses to set up and operate in Victoria, noting Victoria has the lowest business conditions across mainland Australia,” the chamber said.
A survey by The Chamber found that of the 700 Victorian businesses of varied sizes, 76 per cent reported having staff regularly working from home, 63 per cent had a formal work from home policy in place and 77 per cent had a minimum number of days staff were required to work from the office.
Victorian Treasurer and Industrial Relations Jaclyn Symes said enshrining the right to work from home in law meant no one could take it away from workers.
“Work from home is good for families, good for productivity and good for the economy,” she said.
The Coalition has not said whether it will support the law, but if doesn’t, Labor will need support from the crossbench to pass the law in the upper house in time for it to come into effect in September.
