What Victoria's work from home bill says, and the question it forces on every employer
by Justin Pavsic, Co-Founder and CEO, Staff Domain
Victoria’s Equal Opportunity Amendment (Work from Home) Bill 2026 would give eligible employees a legal right to work from home two days a week, where that is reasonable. The Government introduced it to Parliament on 16 June 2026. The burden flips under this bill: employers must show a role cannot be done from home, not the other way around. It is not law yet, and it may change. But the audit it forces, working out which roles need a body in the building, is worth running now.
What does the Victorian work from home bill say?
The bill amends the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 (Vic) rather than employment law. That choice matters, and we will come back to it.
The core entitlement is plain. A full-time employee whose role can be done from home gains the right to work from home up to two days a week (legislation.vic.gov.au, 2026). Part-time staff, and casuals employed on a regular and systematic basis, get a pro rata version, with the calculation method left to future regulations.
The right is not automatic. An employee must give written notice stating the days, the times, and the place they intend to work if it is not their home. The employer then has 21 days to respond. A refusal must explain why the arrangement is not reasonable, and must state whether a smaller arrangement, fewer days or different days, could work instead.
Here is the shift. Under the Fair Work Act today, certain employees may request flexibility and employers may refuse on reasonable business grounds. Under this bill the presumption reverses: the arrangement stands unless the employer can demonstrate it is not reasonable, against a fixed list of factors. Those factors include the inherent requirements of the role, supervision and training needs, productivity impact, client or customer interaction, confidentiality and data security, and the cost of enabling the arrangement.
Two more points operators should note. Employers must meet the reasonable costs of the arrangement, including equipment and secure access to systems. And disputes go to the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission for conciliation, with the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal able to order an employer to allow the arrangement (premier.vic.gov.au, 2026).
Commencement, if the bill passes in its current form: 1 September 2026 for most employers, and 1 July 2027 for those with fewer than 15 employees.
Not everyone is covered. Employees on probation, apprentices, trainees, and interns are excluded, as are casuals without a regular pattern. The largest carve-out is anyone entitled to request flexibility under section 65(1A) of the Fair Work Act, such as carers and parents seeking flexibility for those reasons. They keep using the federal process instead (VGSO, 2026).
Is it law yet?
No. The bill was introduced on 16 June 2026 and had not been debated at the time of writing. Amendments are possible, and so is failure.
There is a deeper question too. Victoria handed its private-sector industrial relations powers to the Commonwealth in 1996, which is why the Government has routed this right through equal opportunity law instead. Employment lawyers expect close scrutiny of whether that route holds, and a constitutional challenge is a live possibility if the bill passes (Herbert Smith Freehills Kramer, 2026). Treat every date in this article as provisional.
Why business groups want the bill withdrawn
The opposition is not fringe. The Australian Industry Group has called the bill unnecessary and warned it will generate disputes rather than resolve them. The Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry argues flexibility is already working without legislation and a mandate adds cost and red tape. A VCCI and Committee for Melbourne survey in October 2025 found 62 per cent of surveyed businesses opposed the two-day minimum (VCCI, 2025).
Their strongest argument concerns junior staff. Early-career workers learn by watching, by overhearing, and by asking the person at the next desk. Mandated remote days, the argument runs, thin out the office and stunt that development.
They have a point. The bill itself concedes it: supervision and training needs sit inside the reasonableness factors, which means Parliament accepts that some roles, at some career stages, need presence. Even the Productivity Commission, which finds no productivity case against hybrid work, has cautioned against rules that make settled hybrid arrangements harder to manage (Productivity Commission, 2025).
What the opposition does not dispute is the underlying fact. Working from home has stabilised at around 36 per cent of Australian workers, and the Commission’s review of the evidence finds hybrid work neutral or positive for productivity (Productivity Commission, 2025). The argument is about mandates, not about whether the work can be done.
The question the bill forces, whether it passes or not
Strip away the politics and the bill does one thing. It requires every Victorian employer to answer, in writing and with evidence, a question most have answered by habit: which of our roles need a person in the building, and which do not?
That is a role audit with a penalty attached.
Employers who cannot answer it will lose disputes at VCAT. Employers who can answer it gain something more useful than compliance. A documented, role-by-role account of where presence matters is the foundation of every workforce decision that follows: office footprint, hybrid policy, hiring radius, and team design.
Run the audit whether or not the bill survives.
The role presence audit
Score each role, not each person, against the bill’s own factors:
- Inherent requirements. Can the core duties be performed away from the site? A drafter can. A machine operator cannot.
- Supervision and training. Does the role, at its current seniority, depend on in-person coaching? Be honest in both directions.
- Productivity impact. What evidence, not instinct, shows output falls when the role is remote? If you have no evidence, write that down too.
- Client interaction. Does the role require face-to-face contact with customers or the public on specific days?
- Confidentiality and security. Can data be handled off-site under your current controls, or with controls you could add at reasonable cost?
- Cost. What would equipment and secure access cost, and is that excessive against the value of the role?
Some roles fail the audit. Writing that down is the point. An employer with documented reasons is protected in a dispute, and an employer with documented answers knows their business better than they did before.
What this means for where work gets done
One finding from the VCCI survey deserves more attention than it received. More than a third of surveyed Victorian businesses said they would look to expand operations and hire outside Victoria if the laws pass (VCCI, 2025). Read that with care: the survey comes from the bill’s most vocal opponents, and it was designed to warn the Government. But the instinct it reveals is real. Once an employer accepts that a role can be done from outside the office, the next question is how far outside.
I have watched that logic play out across the 700+ embedded roles Australian and US businesses run through Staff Domain in the Philippines and South Africa. The businesses that do it well never start with location. They start with the audit above: which roles need presence, which need overlap, and which need capability wherever it sits. The bill, whatever its fate, pushes every Victorian employer to do the same thinking. That thinking extends a team’s capacity; it does not have to shrink anyone’s office.
If you want the honest version of when that logic should stop you, read our introduction to offshore staffing, including the roles that should stay in the building.
FAQ
Is the Victorian work from home bill law yet? No. It was introduced on 16 June 2026 and is yet to be debated. If passed unamended, it starts on 1 September 2026.
Can an employer refuse work from home under the new law? Yes, but only against the bill’s fixed reasonableness criteria, with written reasons and alternatives considered, within 21 days of the employee’s notice.
Does the bill apply to small businesses? Yes, employers of every size. Businesses with fewer than 15 employees get a delayed start of 1 July 2027.
Who is excluded from the new right? Employees on probation, apprentices, trainees, interns, and casuals without regular and systematic employment. Anyone eligible to request flexibility under section 65(1A) of the Fair Work Act uses that process instead.
What happens if there is a dispute? Conciliation at the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission first. Unresolved matters can go to the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which can order an employer to allow the arrangement.
This article is general information, not legal or tax advice. Get advice specific to your situation before acting. The bill described here is before Parliament and may change; this page will be updated as it progresses. Last reviewed 7 July 2026.
