As part of its 4-yearly review of
modern awards, the Fair Work
Commission recently made a significant decision pertaining to
requests for flexible work arrangements. Flexible
arrangements involving changes to work locations, work hours and
work patterns are common, and are encouraged by the National
Employment Standards (NES) contained in the
Fair Work Act 2009, which provides for a right to request a
flexible working arrangement.
Since 1 December 2018, this right
has been supported by a
new modern award clause providing more structure around the
process for requesting flexible arrangements.
The new clause imposes an obligation on employers to discuss
the request with the employee and genuinely try to reach an
agreement, before making a decision about whether to grant or
refuse the request. The clause, which has been inserted into
all
modern awards,
can be found here.
