Changes to the Clerks Private Sector Award will come into effect from 26 October 2026 that outline the Work From Home (WFH) arrangements and provisions. The changes will come into place following a full bench Decision today that upheld an earlier determination with minor amendments.
From 26 October 2026, Clerks – Private Sector Award 2020, Clause 5A will be replaced by;
5A. Requests for working from home arrangements
5A.1 An individual employee may request, and an employer may agree to, an arrangement permitting the employee to work from home.
5A.2 Working from home means the performance of duties by an employee at their residence or at another location chosen by the employee that is approved by the employer.
5A.3 A request by an individual employee for a working from home arrangement must be made in writing and must specify the day(s) of the week, or the number, proportion or pattern of days, that the employee proposes to work from home.
5A.4 Despite anything else in this award, an individual employee and an employer may agree to modify the application of the following terms of this award to facilitate the grant of a request for a working from home arrangement:
(a) the working of ordinary hours continuously under clause 13.6(a);
(b) the working of ordinary hours at the discretion of the employer in accordance with this award under clause 13.6(b);
(c) the time for taking rest breaks under clause 15.2;
(d) the time for taking meal breaks under clause 15.3.5A.5 An individual employee and an employer may enter into a facilitative agreement in accordance with the following terms of this award as part of a working from home arrangement:
(a) alteration of the spread of ordinary hours under clauses 13.4(c) or 25.2(c);
(b) making up time taken off during working hours under clauses 13.8 or 26.5;
(c) changes to times at which the employee will start and finish a shift under clause 26.4(b);
(d) time off instead of payment for overtime under clauses 23 or 29.5A.6 An agreement about a working from home arrangement made as a result of a request under clause 5A.3 must be in writing and must identify:
(a) the day(s) of the week, or the number, proportion or pattern of days, on which it is agreed the employee may work from home;
(b) the location where work is to be performed when working from home;
(c) any modification to the application of award terms in accordance with clause 5A.4;
(d) any facilitative agreement in accordance with clause 5A.5;
(e) the start date of the arrangement; and
(f) how the arrangement may be varied by agreement or terminated by either party.5A.7 An agreement about a working from home arrangement must be one that is made by the individual employee and the employer without coercion or duress.
5A.8 The employer must keep the agreement as a time and wages record and give a copy to the employee.
5A.9 Clause 5A does not limit the operation of clause 5—Individual flexibility arrangements.
NOTE 1: Under this clause, an employee may request and an employer may agree to a new working from home arrangement or the formalisation of an existing working from home arrangement.
NOTE 2: An eligible employee may also request a flexible working arrangement under section 65 of the Act.
NOTE 3: Disputes about requests for working from home arrangements under this clause may be dealt with under clause 40—Dispute resolution.
Under the changes employees wishing to request to Work From Home would be required to submit any request in writing detailing the days and locations of work and any agreement must clearly outline the agreed mechanism for any changes or reviews of the arrangement.
“It is important to understand that while there is no specific requirement within this new version of the Clause for the employer to respond to a WFH request, any such request would also meet the standard of a flexibility request, which does come with a requirement for the employer to consider the request and respond formally”, notes ACAPMAs Elisha Radwanowski.
While the clause changes codify operational arrangements of an agreed WFH agreement, it does not create, as was requested by unions, a “right” to WFH.
“The evidence does not support the proposition that employers are, to any significant degree, refusing requests for working from home arrangements on arbitrary, capricious or discriminatory grounds…do not, we consider, justify a major regulatory intervention by way of a new award provision compelling employers to allow employees to work from home in a wider range of circumstances”.
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Elisha Radwanowski BCom (HRM & IR)
ACAPMA
