A tribunal has upheld Queensland Health's rejection of a HR advisor's bid to continue working from home when she relocates to NSW, on the basis that face-to-face contact is a requirement of the role.
An IR specialist has told a labour law conference that if employees can demonstrate it will not reduce productivity or service, it might become increasingly difficult for employers to validly refuse flexibility requests for four-day working weeks.
A Productivity Commission-convened work from home seminar has heard how employers are managing the challenges of "hybrid workplaces", dealing with potential OHS and management issues and rethinking how they bring people together.
The COVID-19 pandemic has spawned five distinct work-from-home models, according to the authors of a FWC-commissioned study that found formal policies and relatively fixed hours are key to a successful WFH strategy.
The more than one million retail workers need more stable rosters, better pay and greater job security, along with flexible and affordable childcare, to enable them to meet their caring responsibilities, according to a new university study commissioned by the SDA.
Australia had less need than other countries to turn to legislation to provide short-term workplace flexibility in response to COVID-19 because of "swift" and "bold" yet self-restrained interventions by the FWC, according to new research.
The insights gained from the rapid shift to working from home during COVID-19 could lead to the adoption of a "genuine consultation" requirement under the Fair Work Act's "right to request" flexibility that might start "a conversation aimed at reaching a mutually suitable arrangement", according to a new paper by two leading IR academics.
Most negotiations between employers and employees on working from home arrangements will remain outside the formal IR system, according to a new report by the Productivity Commission.
The UK Labour party has promised to replace the country's three existing employment classifications with a single category of "worker" for all but the "genuinely self-employed" if it takes power at the 2024 election.
