Victoria’s WFH law sparks HR concerns

Victoria’s new right-to-work-from-home legislation, which is set to commence in September 2026, is raising fresh questions for HR leaders around compliance, cost exposure, and workforce consistency across national operations.

Recently, the Victorian government introduced legislation into the state’s Parliament to enshrine WFH under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010, through which employees who can work from home (WFH) will be granted the legal right to do so two days per week.

As reported by HR Leader, the laws will come into effect on 1 September 2026, while workplaces with fewer than 15 employees will be granted a delayed commencement date of 1 July 2027, giving them more time to get their policies and procedures in order.

It has also been suggested that the new laws will be a burden on the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal as the number of disputes increases, and that they may accelerate a trend towards offshoring Australian jobs.

While the new legislation will allow employees to structure their day, manage personal commitments, and reduce commuting time, it can bring some issues for employers in monitoring the performance activities of their workers.

Katie Sweatman, partner at Kingston Reid, said the Victorian government’s proposed right-to-work-from-home reforms would likely create compliance, cost, and consistency challenges for employers.

Sweatman highlighted that the reforms would likely create tension for employers managing inconsistent workplace settings across different states in Australia.

“For national or international organisations, this may create a sense of inequity where the organisation’s policies provide for less beneficial working-from-home practices outside of Victoria,” Sweatman said.

“This would not translate into legal claims from interstate employees, but it will foreseeably be a source of grievance.”

Moreover, Sweatman said employers would need to proactively reassess roles and prepare for a sturdier baseline right to work from home.

“Employers that do not already offer employees flexibility consistent with the right to work from home for two days per week will need to look at the roles within their organisation and make an objective assessment of whether those roles could be performed from home, even if that is not their preference,” she said.

“The scope to refuse a work-from-home notification is limited to the grounds provided under the legislation, which generally require that the adverse impacts of the arrangement will be significant and the costs excessive.”

Imposing the WFH legislation can also cause issues surrounding cost obligations.

Under the new legislation, “employers must respond within 21 days and must fund reasonable work-from-home costs”.

Sweatman flagged this uncertainty around cost obligations as an imperative financial risk for employers.

“An aspect of the proposed legislation that took many by surprise was the requirement that employers pay the reasonable costs necessary to enable eligible employees to work from home,” Sweatman said.

“This expressly includes any essential equipment such as hardware and software, and secure access to the employer’s information systems.”

Concerns have also been raised that the reforms could have unintended flow-on effects across different employment types, particularly in how flexibility is distributed within organisations.

Sweatman said the reforms could create inequities between full-time and non-full-time employees.

“Part-time and systematic casual employees will be entitled to work from home for a proportionate 40 per cent of their ordinary hours of work,” she said.

“Particularly, as part-time and casual employees may undertake more frontline work than back-office work, it is foreseeable that these cohorts may feel they are treated less equitably than their full-time colleagues.”

These changes will inevitably place pressure on HR teams as they navigate complex compliance requirements, cost implications, and role-by-role assessments of eligibility.

While there are positives regarding employee flexibility, employers are expected to face ongoing challenges in managing employee expectations and workplace concerns across different job types and work arrangements.

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