Proposed Working From Home Right for Victorian Employees

Upcoming law reforms introduced by the Victorian Labor Government on 16 June 2026 are expected to cause disruption across businesses in Victoria that do not have the necessary processes to manage flexible working arrangements.

The Equal Opportunity Amendment (Work from Home) Bill 2026 (Vic) (WFH Bill) proposes to give eligible employees the right to work from home for up to two days per week which goes well beyond the existing flexible work request regime under the Federal Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (Fair Work Act). Notably, the WFH Bill has not yet passed through Parliament, but it is likely that, at a minimum, a variation of it will.

The WFH Bill: A Statutory Right to Work from Home

Eligible Victorian employees intending to exercise their right to work from home must provide written notice to their employer of their intention, nominating the days and times they propose to work remotely up to a maximum of two days per week. Notably, any employee will have access to exercise this right other than those who are:

• on probation;
• undertaking an apprenticeship, traineeship, internship, graduate program, work experience program or similar program;
• a ‘regulated worker’, ‘regulated business’, or party to a services contract, within the meaning of the Fair Work Act;
• entitled to make a request to work from home under Section 65 of the Fair Work Act;
• a casual employee not employed on a regular and systematic basis; and
• any other employees prescribed by regulation for the purposes of the WFH Bill.

Employers Responding to a Written Notice

Upon receiving a work from home notice, an employer must:

• Respond in writing within 21 days;
• Either permit the arrangement or refuse it on the basis that it is not reasonable in the circumstances; and
• Where refusing, provide written reasons limited to the specific set of circumstances outlined in the Bill.

When considering whether to refuse an employee’s exercise of this right, an employer must only consider:

• the inherent requirements of the employee’s role, including whether those requirements can be satisfied on specific days or at specific times;
• the impact that the employee working from home would have on the employer; and
• any other considerations prescribed by regulation for the purposes of the WFH Bill.

Commencement

The Bill proposes the following commencement dates:

Implications for Employers

Employers with employees based in Victoria should review all employment contracts to ensure that work location clauses do not purport to exclude or limit statutory rights. Any clause that requires attendance at a fixed location as an absolute condition of employment may need to be revised depending on the reasonableness of that requirement with regard to the WFH Bill criteria.

Existing work from home, hybrid work, and flexible work policies and procedures should also be updated to:

• establish a clear process for receiving and assessing work from home notices;
• set out the criteria against which requests will be assessed, mirroring that set out in the WFH Bill;
• address information security, confidentiality, and supervision requirements for remote work;
• incorporate a 21-day internal response process with written reasons for any refusal; and
• identify the roles or positions for which remote work is not operationally feasible, with documented justification.

Senior organisational staff including managers and supervisors should be trained to understand the process under the new framework, including statutory timeframes for responding to notices and reasonable grounds for refusal.

Employers must pay for any reasonable costs associated with enabling an employee to work from home where they have exercised the right to do so. This includes essential hardware (such as laptops and monitors), software licences, and secure remote access infrastructure. Employers will need to budget for these costs as a compliance obligation, not merely a discretionary benefit.

Employers should audit their current remote work infrastructure and identify what additional expenditure may be required to comply. This is particularly relevant for employers who have not previously provided equipment or system access for remote-based work.

Finally, employers with roles that genuinely cannot be performed remotely should document the operational basis for that position now, before the WFH Bill commences.

Existing Flexible Working Regime

Under the Fair Work Act a limited category of employees, including those with parenting or carer responsibilities, a disability, or family and domestic violence circumstances, have a mere right to request flexible working arrangements. Employers may refuse such requests on ‘reasonable business grounds’ (a term that is not exclusively defined in the Act), reflecting a process which is largely procedural rather than one which creates a substantive legal right.

Comparatively, the WFH Bill would enshrine the substantive right to work from home which employees can exercise at their own discretion and an employer must allow, provided that doing so is reasonable with regard to a specific set of circumstances.

How We Can Help

At Taurus Legal Management, we advise employers and employees on employment law compliance, workplace policy and dispute resolution. To discuss how the proposed changes may affect your organisation, contact our experienced commercial team at info@tauruslawyers.com.au or on 03 9481 2000.

This article is intended as general information only and does not constitute legal advice. Taurus Legal Management accepts no liability whatsoever for any act or omission undertaken based on this article.

The Equal Opportunity Amendment (Work from Home) Bill 2026 (Vic) has been introduced into the Victorian Parliament but is not yet enacted as at the date of this article. The proposed bill may be amended at which stage this article may become inaccurate.