What is the Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023?
The Work Life Balance and Miscellaneous Provisions Act 2023 is a new piece of employment legislation that introduces a number of new statutory rights for employees to support a better work life balance and to support staff with caring responsibilities.
How will the new work life balance right affect your business?
In summary, the Act introduces the following rights for your employees:
- 5 days unpaid leave for medical care purposes for parents of children under 12, and carers
- 5 days paid leave for victims of domestic violence
- the right to request flexible working for parents and carers
- the right to request remote working for all employees
- right to breastfeeding breaks extended to two years from date of child’s birth
You will need to develop policies and procedures for managing these rights and prepare for negotiations with employees who want to alter their working patterns.
What is the Code of Practice on the Right to Request Remote Work?
As part of the rollout of this new suite of work-life balance rights, the Workplace Relations Commission has developed a Code of Practice which will provide further guidance for both employers and employees in relation to managing requests for remote work.
The Code of Practice includes sections on Flexible Working (FW) and Remote Working (RW), which set out the process for requesting or handling requests and how to to identify or address different scenarios that may arise.
Also provided in the document are questions that employers may use while considering whether to approve or reject a request for remote or flexible working, as well as sample reasons that an employee can use to make such a request.
The Code additionally includes templates for employers to use in their documentation, such as a template for a Work Life Balance Policy, for a Flexible Working request application, and for a Remote Working request application.
Consequences of non-compliance
If an employee deems that you have breached your obligations under the new legislation, they are entitled to make a claim to the Workplace Relations Commission (WRC).
If the decision goes against you, the WRC has jurisdiction to order you to comply with your obligations and/or award compensation of up to 20 weeks’ remuneration (limited to 4 weeks’ remuneration for claims involving remote working).
How can Peninsula help?
These new rights will have a direct impact on your business. If you fail to ensure that employees receive their statutory rights, your business could be exposed to costly WRC claims.
Peninsula can help you develop policies and procedures that are tailored to the needs of your business and ensure that you’re fully compliant with this change in employment law.
And should an issue ever arise between your business and an employee, our employment law experts are just a phone call away.
FAQ
What does this law mean for my business?
This new law gives your employees the following rights:
- 5 days unpaid leave for medical care purposes for parents of children under 12, and carers
- 5 days paid leave for victims of domestic violence
- the right to request flexible working for parents and carers
- the right to request remote working for all employees
- right to breastfeeding breaks extended to two years from date of child’s birth
You will need to develop policies and procedures to take account of the new rights to paid and unpaid leave, the extension of breastfeeding rights to two years after a child’s birth and the practicalities of handling negotiations with employees who want to alter their working patterns.
Will I have to let my staff work remotely?
There is no obligation to let staff work remotely. You will however have to consider their request to work remotely if they meet the following criteria:
- the employee has 6 months’ continuous employment
- the employee submits the request at least 8 weeks before the proposed remote working arrangement is due to start
What if I want to refuse a request to work remotely?
Employers are required to respond to any request no later than 4 weeks after the request is made. This may be extended by up to 8 weeks if the employer is having difficulty in assessing the viability of the proposal.
You must consider the needs of both parties, and the provisions of a Code of Practice (this will be published by the Workplace Relations Commission), when responding to a request.
If you decide to refuse the request, you must confirm the reasons for your refusal in writing.
Can the employee appeal my decision to refuse their request to work remotely?
The employee can make a claim to the WRC.
This right can only compel the employer to respond, however. If you provide a written response confirming your decision and the reasons you made the decision within the relevant timeframe, the employee will have no reason to make a claim.
Under the legislation, the WRC has no authority to consider the “merits” of any decision made by the employer to refuse a request. It also does not have the power to compel the employer to allow their employee to work remotely.
What if an employee abuses the remote working arrangement?
The employee must continue to discharge their duties under the contract of employment while working remotely.
If you have reason to believe that an employee who is working remotely is abusing the remote work arrangement, you are entitled to terminate the remote working agreement.