Flexible working arrangements are certainly not new. However,
the uptake of such arrangements was turbo charged with the
emergence of the COVID-19 pandemic.
The recent Productivity Commission Working from Home Research Paper
(September 2021), shows that the percentage of Australians
working from home jumped from 8% to 40% in the past two years. As
such, going forward, the 'new normal' for workplaces is
that requests for flexible working arrangements will become more
common.
Employees in the New South Wales local government sector are
generally covered by the Local Government (State) Award 2020
(Award) or an enterprise agreement, underpinned by the Award or its
2017 predecessor. The Award provides employees with at least 12
months' continuous service with a right to request a flexible
working arrangement in particular circumstances, such as, if the
employee is the parent of a child who is of school age or younger,
is a carer, has a disability, is 55 or older, or is
