Clerks Award work from home changes commenced from the first full pay period on or after 26 October 2026.
Changes to the Clerks - Private Sector Award have now commenced, with employees under this Award now having the right to request working from home arrangements. There are no transition arrangements, no exceptions for small businesses, and all employees covered by this Award are permitted to make a request.
Note: this is a separate entitlement to that which has for some time been available under the National Employment Standards (NES) for certain employees (such as parents or other who have responsibility for the care of a child of school age or younger, employees who are carer (as defined in the Carer Recognition Act 2010), and employees who are pregnant, have a disability or are 55 years of age or older) to request flexible work arrangements (which may include but are not limited to work from home arrangements). Refer THIS ARTICLE for further details.
These new Award provisions allow all staff covered by the Clerks – Private Sector Award to request arrangements to permit them to work from home (which may include another location approved by the employer). While the provisions allow employees to make a request, and employees and employers to make agreements relating to such arrangements (within prescribed parameters), there remains no absolute entitlement to working from home arrangements for employees and, unlike requests submitted under the existing NES arrangements, there are no specific limitations on the reasons for which an employer can refuse a request.
The new provisions include details of how a request is made and considered, the requirements for a working from home agreement, and how relevant disputes can be addressed.
Clerks Award Work From Home Changes: Making and Considering a Request
An employee covered by the Clerks – Private Sector Award and wanting to make a request for a working from home arrangement must put their request in writing. Their request must also include details of the specific days of the week or the number, proportion or pattern of days that they wish to work from home.
In considering the employee’s request, the employer and employee may agree to make changes to certain Award provisions such as those relating to:
- how ordinary hours are worked
- when rest breaks are taken
- when meal breaks are taken
- the spread of ordinary hours
- start/finish times
- making up time taken off during working hours, and
- time off instead of payment for overtime.
Agreements made under these new provisions apply to individual employees only.
Requirements for a Work From Home Agreement
Agreements negotiated under these provisions must be made in writing and need to include:
- the agreed days of the week or the number, proportion or pattern of days, the employee will work from home
- the location the employee will work from
- any terms of the Award that have been modified
- any Facilitative Agreement that has been made
- the start date of the working from home arrangement
- how the arrangement can be varied by agreement or ended by the employee or employer.
The employer must retain the written agreement as a time and wages record and provide the employee with a copy.
Managing Disputes
The Fair Work Commission have been given powers to help employers and employees deal with disputes relating to working from home arrangements.
Our View?
As we suggested when these sorts of Award changes were first proposed, they are in our view a small but positive step forward. They recognise that WFH is now a normal part of many workplaces, and they create a clearer pathway for employers and employees to agree on arrangements that support real-life needs without potentially breaching the Award. The requirement for a written agreement also helps both sides by clarifying expectations and creating a compliance trail.
Clerks Award Work From Home Changes: Tips for Employers
- If you have employees covered by this Award, be sure that you and your managers are familiar with the new requirements, so that you are prepared for any requests that might come your way.
- Consider how you are managing work from home arrangements generally, as we expect these new Award provisions to flow-on to at least some other Awards over the course of the next 12 months or so.
- If you already have employees covered by the Clerks Award on some sort of informal agreement that allows them to work from home, consider using these new provisions to formalise arrangements in order to protect your business.
- Keep in mind (as mentioned at the start of the article) these Award entitlements are additional to and separate from the pre-existing entitlement that certain staff have to request flexible work arrangements. It will be important to establish the basis on which any request is made, as there are differences in how they need to be considered and responded to.
- Don’t be too quick to dismiss any requests made. At least have a discussion with the employee making the request, genuinely consider what they have to say and, if you can’t agree to their full request, explore alternatives that might work for both parties. Note that this new Award entitlement is now a “protected right”, meaning that employers cannot take adverse action against an employee for exercising or seeking to exercise their right to request a work from home arrangement.
- If you need to, reach out for help if you need it, from us (😊) or another specialist provider. The legislation is getting increasingly complex and there are specific requirements that need to be considered.
Note that this is general, summary information only. It is not formal or legal advice. Information is current and we believe accurate at the time of publication – 29/10/2026.
