The Federal Government has announced proposed changes to federal workplace laws that would seek to deliver flexible working arrangements for millions of Australian workers.

Federal Minister for Workplace Relations, Bill Shorten, said that the amendments to the Fair Work Act would broaden the right to request flexible working arrangements to employees.

"The independent panel that reviewed the Fair Work Act last year found the current provisions in the National Employment Standards for requesting flexible arrangements were working effectively, were being taken seriously by employers and employees and the vast majority of requests are being granted when they are made,” Mr Shorten said.  

"However the Panel noted that many workers weren’t aware of their rights to request flexible work arrangements and recommended that more workers should be able to access the right.”  

Currently, the right to request flexible hours is limited to parents with responsibility for a child under school age or a child with disability aged under 18.

Workers who can make right to request flexible work arrangements will be extended to include:

  • workers with caring responsibilities
  • employees who are parents, or who have responsibility for the care of a child of school age
  • employees with disability
  • mature-age employees
  • workers experiencing family violence and workers providing personal care, support and assistance to a member of their immediate family or member of their household because they are experiencing family violence.