Common use of REQUESTS FOR FLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS Clause in Contracts

REQUESTS FOR FLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS. The laws about requests for flexible working arrangements changed on 1 July 2013. The NES give employees the right to request a change to working arrangements in the following circumstances: If the employee is a parent, or has the responsibility for the care, of a child who is of school age or younger: The employee is a carer (within the meaning of the Carer Recognition Act 2012); The employee has a disability; The employee is 55 or older; The employee is experiencing violence from a member of the employee’s family; The employee provides care or support to a member of the employee’s immediate family, or a member of the employee’s household, who requires care or support because the member is experiencing violence from the member’s family. In addition, parents or those who have responsibility for the care of a child and who are returning from a period of parental leave or adoption leave may request to work part-time to assist the employee to care for the child. Casual employees who work on a regular and systematic basis with a reasonable expectation of continuing work can also make a request for flexible working arrangements. The request must be in writing and provide details of the change sought and reasons for the change. Employers must respond to the request in writing within 21 days and give reasons if the request is refused. A request may only be refused on reasonable business grounds which should be specified in the written response. Fair Work Act provides the following list of matters which may amount to reasonable business grounds but there may be others: That the new working arrangements would be too costly for the employer; That there is no capacity to change the working arrangements of other employees to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee; That it would be impractical to change the working arrangements of other employees or recruit new employees to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee; That the new working arrangements requested by the employee would be likely to result in a significant loss in efficiency or productivity; That the new working arrangements requested by the employee would be likely to have a significant negative impact on customer service;

REQUESTS FOR FLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS. The laws about requests for flexible working arrangements changed on 1 July 2013December 2018. Section 65 of the Fair Work Act 2009 provides for Requests for Flexible Working Arrangements as part of the NES. Clause 6 of the Pastoral Award 2020 provides additional requirements which apply to award employees. The NES give employees the right to request a change to working arrangements in the following circumstances: If the employee is a parent, or has the responsibility for the care, of a child who is of school age or younger: The employee is a carer (within the meaning of the Carer Recognition Act 2012); The employee has a disability; The employee is 55 or older; The employee is experiencing violence from a member of the employee’s family; The employee provides care or support to a member of the employee’s immediate family, or a member of the employee’s household, who requires care or support because the member is experiencing violence from the member’s family. In addition, parents or those who have responsibility for the care of a child and who are returning from a period of parental leave or adoption leave may request to work part-time to assist the employee to care for the child. Permanent employees can make a request for flexible working arrangements if they have completed 12 months’ continuous service with the employer. Casual employees who work have worked for the employer on a regular and systematic basis with during a period of at least 12 months and who have a reasonable expectation of continuing work can also make a request for flexible working arrangements. The request must be in writing and provide details of the change sought and reasons for the change. If the employee is an award employee the employer and the employee must discuss the request and genuinely try to reach an agreement which will accommodate the employee’s circumstances having regard to the following: the needs of the employee arising from their circumstances; the consequences for the employee if changes in working arrangements are not made; and any reasonable business grounds for refusing the request. If the employee is award free the employer must consider the request. Employers must respond to the request in writing within 21 days and give reasons if the request is refused. A request may only be refused on reasonable business grounds which should be specified in the written response. If the request is refused, award employees must also be provided with details of the reasons for the refusal and details of how the reasonable business grounds apply to them. In addition, the written response for award employees must state whether or not there are any changes in working arrangements that the employer can offer to the employee to better accommodate the employee’s circumstances and if so these changes must be set out in the response. If the employer and the award employee reach an agreement on a change in working arrangements that differs from that initially requested by the employee, the employer must provide the employee with a written response to their request setting out the agreed change(s) in working arrangements. Reasonable Business Grounds are defined as follows: Fair Work Act provides the following list of matters which may amount to reasonable business grounds but there may be others: That the new working arrangements would be too costly for the employer; That there is no capacity to change the working arrangements of other employees to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee; That it would be impractical to change the working arrangements of other employees or recruit new employees to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee; That the new working arrangements requested by the employee would be likely to result in a significant loss in efficiency or productivity; That the new working arrangements requested by the employee would be likely to have a significant negative impact on customer service;; Disputes about whether the employer has discussed the request with the award employee and responded to the request in the way required by clause 6, can be dealt with under the dispute resolution clause in the Pastoral Award (Clause 28).

REQUESTS FOR FLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS. The laws about requests for flexible working arrangements changed on 1 July 2013December 2018. As of that date Clause 26B of the Pastoral Award provides additional requirements which apply to award employees. The NES give employees the right to request a change to working arrangements in the following circumstances: If the employee is a parent, or has the responsibility for the care, of a child who is of school age or younger: The employee is a carer (within the meaning of the Carer Recognition Act 2012); The employee has a disability; The employee is 55 or older; The employee is experiencing violence from a member of the employee’s family; The employee provides care or support to a member of the employee’s immediate family, or a member of the employee’s household, who requires care or support because the member is experiencing violence from the member’s family. In addition, parents or those who have responsibility for the care of a child and who are returning from a period of parental leave or adoption leave may request to work part-time to assist the employee to care for the child. Permanent employees can make a request for flexible working arrangements if they have completed 12 months’ continuous service with the employer. Casual employees who work have worked for the employer on a regular and systematic basis with during a period of at least 12 months and who have a reasonable expectation of continuing work can also make a request for flexible working arrangements. The request must be in writing and provide details of the change sought and reasons for the change. If the employee is an award employee the employer and the employee must discuss the request and genuinely try to reach an agreement which will accommodate the employee’s circumstances having regard to the following: the needs of the employee arising from their circumstances; the consequences for the employee if changes in working arrangements are not made; and any reasonable business grounds for refusing the request. If the employee is award free the employer must consider the request. Employers must respond to the request in writing within 21 days and give reasons if the request is refused. A request may only be refused on reasonable business grounds which should be specified in the written response. If the request is refused, award employees must also be provided with details of the reasons for the refusal and details of how the reasonable business grounds apply to them. In addition, the written response for award employees must state whether or not there are any changes in working arrangements that the employer can offer to the employee to better accommodate the employee’s circumstances and if so these changes must be set out in the response. If the employer and the award employee reach an agreement on a change in working arrangements that differs from that initially requested by the employee, the employer must provide the employee with a written response to their request setting out the agreed change(s) in working arrangements. Reasonable Business Grounds are defined as follows: Fair Work Act provides the following list of matters which may amount to reasonable business grounds but there may be others: That the new working arrangements would be too costly for the employer; That there is no capacity to change the working arrangements of other employees to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee; That it would be impractical to change the working arrangements of other employees or recruit new employees to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee; That the new working arrangements requested by the employee would be likely to result in a significant loss in efficiency or productivity; That the new working arrangements requested by the employee would be likely to have a significant negative impact on customer service;; Disputes about whether the employer has discussed the request with the award employee and responded to the request in the way required by clause 26B,can be dealt with under the dispute resolution clause in the Pastoral Award.

REQUESTS FOR FLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS. The laws about requests for flexible working arrangements changed on 1 July 2013. The NES give employees the right to 9.1 An employee may request a change to in working arrangements in accordance with section 65 of the following circumstances: If Fair Work Act. 9.2 Employees may request flexible work arrangements where: (a) the employee is a the parent, or has the responsibility for the care, of a child who is of school age or younger: The ; (b) the employee is a carer (within the meaning of the Carer Recognition Act 20122010); The ; (c) the employee has a disability; The ; (d) the employee is 55 or older; The ; (e) the employee is experiencing violence from a member of the employee’s family; The ; (f) the employee provides care or support to a member of the employee’s immediate family, or a member of the employee’s household, who requires care or support because the member is experiencing violence from the member’s family. In addition, parents or those who have responsibility for the care of a child and who are returning from a period of parental leave or adoption leave . 9.3 The employer may request to work part-time to assist the employee to care for the child. Casual employees who work on a regular and systematic basis with a reasonable expectation of continuing work can also make only refuse a request for flexible a change in working arrangements. The request must be in writing and provide details of the change sought and reasons for the change. Employers must respond to the request in writing within 21 days and give reasons if the request is refused. A request may only be refused arrangements on ‘reasonable business grounds which should be specified in grounds’ including the written response. Fair Work Act provides the following list of matters which may amount to reasonable business grounds but there may be others: That following: (a) that the new working arrangements requested by the employee would be too costly for the employer; That ; (b) that there is no capacity to change the working arrangements of other employees to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee; That ; (c) that it would be impractical to change the working arrangements of other employees employees, or recruit new employees employees, to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee; That ; (d) that the new working arrangements requested by the employee would be likely to result in a significant loss in efficiency or productivity; That ; (e) that the new working arrangements requested by the employee would be likely to have a significant negative impact on customer service. 9.4 Before responding to a request for a flexible work arrangement, the employer must discuss the request with the employee and genuinely try to reach agreement on a change in working arrangements that will reasonably accommodate the employee’s circumstances having regard to: (a) the needs of the employee arising from their circumstances; (b) the consequences for the employee if changes in working arrangements are not made; and (c) any reasonable business grounds for refusing the request. 9.5 The employer must give the employee a written response to an employee’s flexible work arrangement request within twenty-one (21) days, stating whether the employer grants or refuses the request. 9.6 If the employer refuses the request and has not reached an agreement with the employee: (a) the written response must include details of the reasons for the refusal, including the business ground or grounds for the refusal and how the ground or grounds apply. (b) If the employer and employee could not agree on a change in working arrangements under this clause, the written response must: (i) state whether or not there are any changes in working arrangements that the employer can offer the Employee so as to better accommodate the employee’s circumstances; and (ii) if the employer can offer the employee such changes in working arrangements, set out those changes in working arrangements. 9.7 If the employer and the employee reached an agreement under this clause on a change in working arrangements that differs from that initially requested by the employee, the employer must provide the employee with a written response to their request setting out the agreed change(s) in working arrangements. 9.8 Disputes about whether the employer has discussed the request with the employee and responded to the request in the way required by this clause, can be dealt with under the Dispute Resolution terms in clause 11.