Victoria’s work from home bill: status and what it proposed

A lapsed bill has no legal effect. Any future right to work from home would need a new bill introduced in a later Parliament and passed by both Houses. If a new bill appears, check its own text and dates rather than relying on the 2026 version.

• Notice: the employee would give a written work from home notice identifying the days and any times. The employer would have to respond in writing within 21 days (proposed s 102M).
• Reasonableness: the employer could refuse or offer fewer or different days only by reference to listed matters: the inherent requirements of the role and the impact on the employer, such as a significant drop in productivity, safety risks, supervision, customer service, data protection, or excessive cost (explanatory memorandum).
• Excluded employees included those on probation; apprentices, trainees, interns and graduates; casuals who are not regular and systematic; and employees who could instead make a s 65 flexible working request under the Fair Work Act because of a listed circumstance.
• Timing: commencement on 1 September 2026, with small business employers (fewer than 15 employees) covered from 1 July 2027.

The circulated amendments would also have set the entitlement for employees working under 38 hours at 40% of weekly hours, stopped the right stacking on top of an existing arrangement, added a notice process for pausing or ending an arrangement when circumstances change, and narrowed the costs obligation. The bill lapsed before the Council resumed the second reading, so none of these were voted on.

As introduced, proposed s 102N would have required the employer to pay any reasonable costs necessary for the employee to work from home, described in the explanatory memorandum as including essential equipment and secure access to the employer’s systems.

Today, cost obligations come from the employee’s award, enterprise agreement, contract or your own policy. The Commonwealth working from home term in the Clerks Award (clause 5A) does not deal with costs, and the Full Bench declined to change award allowances for people working from home. A written working from home policy is the place to say what equipment you provide and what you reimburse.

Most employees in Victoria are in the national Fair Work system, including most state government employees (Fair Work Ombudsman). For them, s 26 displaces state laws whose main purpose is regulating terms and conditions of employment. Section 27(1A)(b) lists the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 of Victoria among laws s 26 does not exclude.

That carve-out does not answer the separate question under s 109 of the Constitution: a state law inconsistent with a Commonwealth law is invalid to the extent of the inconsistency. Whether a state working from home right conflicts with the s 65 flexible working regime and award terms was publicly debated but never decided by a court, although the bill’s exclusion of employees who can use s 65 reduced the direct overlap. Because the bill lapsed, the question is hypothetical as at 5 November 2026.

1. Respond to s 65 requests in writing within 21 days, refusing only after discussion and on reasonable business grounds.
2. For clerical staff, record any working from home arrangement as a clause 5A written agreement and keep it as a time and wages record.
3. Write down what equipment you supply and what costs you reimburse, and apply it consistently.
4. Watch for any new bill in the next Parliament before changing policy in response to announcements.