We’re pleased the PWdWA submission on the proposed Right to Work from Home Bill 2025 was among 31 published today.
Among the views we put together in consultation with members was our hope that by widening the group of employees who can work from home to everyone employed by an employer, even more of us can work from home.
We put the case forward for working from home, saying “The disability community and our organisation PWdWA believe a universal right to working from home is vital for people with disability and workers more generally, particularly workers with other disadvantages too, and intersecting disadvantage.”
We shared some concerns with the government.
We wrote, “We worry that by eliminating the categories of workers that may request working from home arrangements, these categories of workers who face disadvantages in their personal lives will once again be implicitly discriminated against at workplaces across Australia.”
The existing Fair Work Act 2009 allows these groups to definitely ask to work from home: pregnant employees, parent–employees, carer–employees, employees with disability, employees aged 55 years and older, employees experiencing family and domestic violence, employees providing care or support to a family or householder member due to family and domestic violence, employees who have responsibility for the care of a child, and parent–employees returning to work after the birth or adoption of a child.
We noticed the new bill seeks to differentiate between requests to work from home for two days, and longer amounts of time – up to five days.
We told our parliamentarians, “For some people with disability and other disadvantage, working from home five days a week is vital. Normalising forced returns two or three days a week through tweaking legislation is also not in our interest, or in the interest of many workers needing reasonable adjustments, including the categories of workers currently named in the Fair Work Act.”
Working from home is important to us and we can do it productively and with a strong commitment to our employers.
We wrote, “Our community can be productive at home and rev up our economy. Please ensure any legislative change enables us to keep on doing this.”
Our submission and others are being looked at by the Australian Parliament’s Senate Education and Employment Committees and its members, Senator Marielle Smith, Deputy Chair Senator Maria Kovacic and members Senator Josh Dolega, Senator Mehreen Faruqi, Senator Corinne Mulholland, Senator Jacinta Nampijinpa Price, and Senator Barbara Pocock.
To check out our submission, see our Systemic Advocacy submissions page. To look at other submissions, including from unions, industry associations and social sector organisations, see the Parliamentary Business WFH2025 Submissions page:
https://www.aph.gov.au/Parliamentary_Business/Committees/Senate/Education_and_Employment/WFH2025/Su…
—People with Disabilities WA
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