Working From Home: From Request To Right?

What is the Bill and what does it do?

The Equal Opportunity Amendment (Work from Home) Bill 2026 was introduced into the Victorian Parliament on 15 June 2026. The Bill proposes to insert a new Part 6B into the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic), establishing a statutory right for certain employees to work from home for up to 2 days per week.

The right will be enforceable through the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT) and the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (Commission).

If passed, the Bill will commence on 1 September 2026 for most employers, with small business employers (fewer than 15 employees) given until 1 July 2027.

What rights does the Bill create?

An eligible employee working 38 hours or more per week will be entitled to work from home for up to two days per week. For those working fewer than 38 hours, the entitlement is calculated on a pro rata basis. The employee does not need to ask permission. They provide written notice (a ‘work from home notice’) identifying the days and, where practicable, times they intend to work from home and whether they will be working from somewhere other than their private residence.

The definition of ‘home’ includes any place determined by agreement between the employee and employer. This means the entitlement is not necessarily limited to the employee's private residence.

Who can access the work from home right?

The Bill carves out a number of categories from eligibility:

• Employees on probation;
• Employees undertaking apprenticeships, traineeships, internships, graduate programs, work experience or similar programs;
• Regulated workers and regulated businesses under the Fair Work Act;
• Employees who are already entitled to request flexible working arrangements under section 65 of the Fair Work Act (namely, those with caring responsibilities, disability, experiencing family violence or who are 55 or older);
• Casual employees not employed on a regular and systematic basis; and
• Any class of employee prescribed by future regulations

The exclusion of employees already covered by section 65 of the Fair Work Act is deliberate. The Bill is not intended to replicate existing protections, as it extends a new, standalone entitlement to employees who do not otherwise have a statutory pathway to flexible work.

Ineligibility on the basis of probation or participation in a training program is temporary. Once those circumstances end, the employee becomes eligible.

What must employers do in response?

Upon receiving a work from home notice, the employer must respond in writing within 21 days. The default position is that the employer must allow the employee to work from home as set out in their notice.

If the employer considers it is not reasonable for the employee to work from home as requested, the employer does not simply get to say no. Instead, the legislation imposes a cascading set of obligations:

1. If it is reasonable for the employee to work from home for an equivalent period on different days or at different times, the employer must offer that alternative.
2. If an equivalent period is not reasonable, the employer must allow the employee to work from home for whatever lesser period is reasonable.
3. Only where no period of working from home is reasonable may the employer refuse entirely.

The effect is that some degree of working from home will ordinarily need to be permitted unless the employer can demonstrate that no period is reasonable.

When can an employer refuse under the reasonableness test?

The Bill prescribes an exhaustive list of matters that an employer may consider in determining whether it is reasonable for an employee to work from home. Employers cannot rely on generalised preferences for in-office work or cultural arguments about collaboration. The permissible considerations are:

• Inherent requirements of the role, including whether those requirements can be met without the employee's physical attendance, without specific workplace equipment, or without in-person interactions with clients, customers or the public.
• Impact on the employer - specifically whether the employee working from home would be likely to:
  • cause a significant decrease in productivity or efficiency;
  • adversely impact safety;
  • significantly and adversely impact supervision, training or professional development;
  • significantly and adversely impact relationship-building with stakeholders, clients or customers;
  • significantly and adversely impact customer service outcomes;
  • significantly and adversely impact confidentiality or data protection;
  • impose excessive financial costs;
  • require impractical changes to working arrangements of the employee or other employees; or
  • require impractical new hirings.
• Any matters prescribed in regulations.

Many of these thresholds are qualified by ‘significant’ or ‘excessive,’ which suggests that a general inconvenience or marginal productivity concern will not meet the threshold for refusal. Regard must also be had to any legal requirements relating to safety, security, welfare or supervision, which may provide a basis for refusal where, for example, regulatory obligations require physical attendance.

What costs must employers cover?

New section 102N requires employers to pay any reasonable costs necessary for eligible employees to work from home, including costs for essential equipment and secure access to the employer's information systems.

For employers who have not already invested in remote work infrastructure, this will require additional expenditure to the extent the costs are ‘reasonable.’ The scope of that term is not defined in the Bill and will likely require clarification over time.

How is the right enforced?

The Bill includes a full enforcement framework:

• Victimisation protections are extended to cover contraventions of the new Part 6B.
• Vicarious liability provisions apply, meaning employers are liable for contraventions by their employees or agents (subject to the existing ‘reasonable precautions’ defence).
• Disputes may be brought to the Commission for resolution.
• Applications may be made directly to VCAT, regardless of whether the dispute has first been brought to the Commission.
• VCAT may order an employer to allow an employee to work from home for a specified period, or to do anything necessary to comply with the contravened provision.
• The Commission may intervene in proceedings involving the right to work from home.

What employers should do now?

The Bill has not yet passed. If enacted in its current form, employers will need to:

• Audit their workforce to identify which employees will be eligible and which fall within the exclusions.
• Review existing work-from-home policies to ensure they are consistent with the cascading obligations imposed by the Bill, particularly the requirement to offer alternative arrangements before refusing outright.
• Prepare template responses to work from home notices that address the prescribed reasonableness factors with appropriate specificity and evidence.
• Budget for the cost obligations associated with equipping employees to work from home, including equipment, IT security, and systems access.
• Train managers on the new framework, including the critical point that a refusal must be grounded in the prescribed matters and must demonstrate that no reasonable alternative arrangement exists.
• Review employment contracts and position descriptions to ensure inherent requirements are clearly articulated, as these will form the first limb of any reasonableness assessment.

What happens next?

For employers who have been directing staff back to the office, the Bill constrains the basis on which attendance can be required. It does not abolish the employer's capacity to require physical attendance, but it confines that capacity to circumstances where the employer can point to specific, prescribed impacts that meet the thresholds set out in the legislation.

Employers would be well placed to use the period before commencement to review their policies, position descriptions and workplace arrangements to ensure readiness if the Bill is passed in its current form. This should include at a minimum an early audit of the workforce to determine who may be eligible for the new rights and if there are any positions where it would be clearly unreasonable for the employee to work from home.

Frequently Asked Questions

What does the Work from Home Bill actually change for employers, if it is passed?
If passed, it would introduce a statutory right for eligible employees to work from home, shifting the starting point from employer discretion to a framework where some level of remote work must generally be accommodated.

Who can access the work from home right, if the Bill is passed?
If passed, eligibility will be limited, with exclusions for probationary employees, certain trainees and employees already covered by flexible working arrangements under the Fair Work Act.

Will employees still need approval to work from home?
If the Bill is passed, eligible employees would be able to provide a work from home notice rather than seeking approval, specifying when and where they intend to work remotely.

When can an employer refuse a work from home arrangement?
If the Bill is passed, employers would only be able to refuse where they can demonstrate, based on prescribed criteria, that no working from home arrangement is reasonable.

What should employers be doing now to prepare?
While the Bill has not yet passed, employers should review policies, identify eligible employees, prepare response templates and assess operational and cost implications in anticipation of the proposed framework.

The content of this article is intended to provide a general guide to the subject matter. Specialist advice should be sought about your specific circumstances.