Parents with children of school age or younger who have been unreasonably refused access to flexible rostering at work will have the option to seek binding conciliation under new laws to be introduced in Parliament on Thursday.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
The Labor government says it's giving employers a "powerful incentive" to reach an agreement with their workers at the workplace level.
The new expanded right to access to flexible rostering will also be extended to carers, older Australians, people with disability and people experiencing domestic violence or caring for someone who is in that situation.
Workplace Relations Minister Tony Burke said many employers did grant requests for flexible work, but some workers were unreasonably refused and had no right of review.
"Women still carry the main responsibility for caring work and are more likely to request flexible work arrangements," he said. To manage work and care they were often forced to drop out of the workforce or take lower-paid or less secure employment - widening the gender pay gap.
"There is another category of workers - mainly men - who need flexible work but do not ever request it because they think they'll be knocked back and there's simply no point asking."
Australia's workplace laws were outdated, he said, and do not actively support a culture of flexible work that supported families, communities and the national economy.
"The care of children and other loved ones is truly an essential job - our workplace laws must better recognise and support this work, for the benefit of us all."
READ MORE POLITICS NEWS:
Employers would be legally required to seek agreement at the workplace level with eligible employees who request flexibility, under the proposed new law. A refusal could be taken to the Fair Work Commission for a binding decision if conciliation failed.
Labor's proposed industrial relations laws include promises from before the election and agreed outcomes from the jobs and skills summit the government held in September that included business groups, unions and groups excluded from the labour market.
Only the first round of reforms will be introduced this week, designed to deliver on our election promises to create more secure jobs, boost wages and make the workplace relations system fairer.
Jennifer Westacott from the Business Council of Australia said she hoped for more consultation ahead of the government introducing its workplace relations reforms, but also wanted to ensure the outcomes of the jobs summit were honoured.
"We can't have a jobs summit, have it go for two days and then not see it through - because these are negotiations," she told ABC radio on Wednesday.
The summit had agreed to take immediate action to provide stronger access to flexible working arrangements.
The former Coalition government abandoned most of its attempt at industrial relations reform in 2021 after nine months of negotiations and consideration by the then-government. The laws finally passed without measures to crack down on wage theft by employers, despite being supported across the parliament.
Harley Dennett
Former federal politics bureau chief for the Canberra Times, via a career that's taken me from rural Victoria to Washington DC. Telling the stories of my local LGBTI community brought me to political journalism, where I've covered eight budgets, four national elections in two countries, Defence, public service and international governance.
Former federal politics bureau chief for the Canberra Times, via a career that's taken me from rural Victoria to Washington DC. Telling the stories of my local LGBTI community brought me to political journalism, where I've covered eight budgets, four national elections in two countries, Defence, public service and international governance.
