A New Right to Work from Home (WFH) in Victoria

Introduction

On 17 June 2026, the Equal Opportunity Amendment (Work from Home) Bill 2026 (Vic) (EOA Bill) was introduced to the Victorian Legislative Assembly. If passed, it will create a statutory right to work from home (WFH) by creating a presumption in favour of employees to WFH 2 days a week and significant compliance obligations on employers to allow eligible employees to do so if they are reasonably able.

Key takeaways

• Commences on 1 September 2026 for larger businesses and from 1 July 2027 for smaller businesses (under 15 employees).

• Will allow all ‘eligible employees’ to work from home.

• Covers roles that can be reasonably performed remotely.

• Employers can only refuse on genuine operational grounds or where the employee’s physical presence is required.

• Disputes involve conciliation at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission or the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

When will it take effect?

If passed, the EOA Bill will commence on:

• 1 September 2026 for businesses with 15 or more employees; and

• 1 July 2027 for businesses with fewer than 15 employees.

Who is covered?

The EOA Bill will allow eligible employees to WFH. This excludes employees who are:

• on probation; or

• undertaking an apprenticeship, traineeship, internship, graduate program, work experience or similar program; or

• regulated workers under the Fair Work Act (FW Act); or

• regulated businesses under the FW Act; or

• party to a services contract under the FW Act and is not a regulated worker, regulated business, person in a road transport contractual chain; or

• casuals who are not regular or systematic;

• a prescribed employee or class of employees under regulations; or

• eligible to request a flexible working arrangement under section 65 of the FW Act (due to specific circumstances including pregnancy, parental or carer responsibilities, disability, age, or family/domestic violence contexts).

Part time and casual employees with regular and consistent hours are eligible to WFH. Employees who work fewer than 38 hours will have their WFH determined on a pro-rata basis. The method to calculate this may be published in regulations.

The EOA Bill clarifies that the right to WFH is an additional right and does not affect any other right or entitlement of an eligible employee under the FW Act, or other acts, or instruments. This raises an interesting side question of whether an employee eligible for a flexible working arrangement under section 65 of the FW Act (who may have more of a circumstantial need to WFH) may be left to navigate more onerous requirements when making a request to do so under the FW Act, than an employee eligible under the EOA Bill.

What is changing?

Employees

An employee must provide a ‘work from home notice’ (notice) to their employer if they intend to WFH. The notice must, if practicable, identify the specific days and times the employee intends to WFH and whether the employee intends to work from a place other than their private residence.

Employers

Employers have 21 days to provide a written response to a notice to advise whether it considers it reasonable for the employee to WFH. If not, the employer can provide an alternative period and explain why the original request was not reasonable, or inform the employee that their notice has been refused. If the employee can work from home, their employer is also required to pay any reasonable costs for essential equipment and secure access to the employer’s information system.

When is it reasonable to work from home?

An employer who receives a notice must allow the eligible employee to WFH, unless it is not reasonable for the employee to do so. The Bill outlines the only matters that an employer is to consider when determining whether it is reasonable for an eligible employee to work from home. These matters are:

• the inherent requirements of the employee's role, including whether those requirements can be satisfied on specific days or at specific times—

  • without the employee's attendance in person at their regular workplace; or

  • without the employee using equipment at their regular workplace; or

  • without in person interactions between the employee and members of the public or clients or customers of the employer; and

• the impact that the employee working from home would have on the employer, including whether the employee doing so on specific days or at specific times would—

  • be likely to cause a significant decrease in productivity or efficiency; or

  • have an adverse impact on any person's safety; or

  • have a significant adverse impact on supervision, training or professional development of the employer's employees; or

  • have a significant adverse impact on the capacity to build relationships between the employee and stakeholders, clients or customers; or

  • have a significant adverse impact on customer service outcomes; or

  • have a significant adverse impact on confidentiality or data protection; or

  • impose excessive financial costs on the employer; or

  • require the employer to make changes to the working arrangements of the employee or any other employee that are impractical; or

  • require the employer to make new hirings that are impractical.

Employers contemplating a refusal, will need to be able to clearly provide a rationale covering these tests relevant to the role and their specific business.

What are the enforcement and dispute resolution options?

The EOA Bill positions the WFH provisions within the Victorian anti-discrimination regime. This was likely intended to navigate potential constitutional limitations arising from Victoria’s referral of its industrial powers to the Commonwealth.

The effect of this approach is that disputed matters under the EOA Bill will be dealt with by the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission (VEOHRC) for conciliation and, the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (VCAT).

Employers themselves cannot initial claims under the EOA Bill, and employees can elect to make a direct application to VCAT without having first conciliated at VEOHRC. In turn VCAT can order the employer to allow the employee to WFH for a specified period, or that the employer take any steps necessary to comply with any other contravened provision.

What does this mean for employers?

Although Parliament has not yet voted on the Bill, it is expected to pass, and employers can therefore take some steps to be prepared. Employers should consider:

• updating their current WFH policies to avoid ‘blanket refusal’ and generic statement responses and clearly differentiate between requests under the FW Act and rights to WFH under the EOA Bill, as the employees eligible and the tests to apply are different; and

• reviewing which roles require in-person work and maintaining a consistent policy across roles.  

  
  

If you would like to know more about the issues raised in the article, or the impact of this Bill on your business, please contact our team.