Employers across the country have been put on notice after a working mum won the right to not have to go into the office in a landmark decision.
An Australian mother has won a landmark case against Westpac after the bank refused to allow her to work from home, in a decision that could have major repercussions for the company's return-to-office mandates.
Karlene Chandler has worked for Westpac for 23 years, currently employed part-time in the mortgage team in NSW.
She asked the bank in January if she could work remotely from her home in Wilton, 80km southwest of the Sydney CBD, so she could pick up and drop off her two young daughters for school.
Westpac refused, with a senior manager telling the mum working from home is no substitute for childcare.
Ms Chandler proposed an alternative – she work two days a week at a branch closer to her home. This was also rejected by the bank.
An Australian mother has won a landmark case against Westpac after the bank refused to allow her to work from home, in a decision that could have major repercussions for the company's return-to-office mandates. Picture: Brendon Thorne/Getty Images
In a ruling published on Monday the Fair Work Commission (FWC) ruled in favour of Ms Chandler, noting she had a very successful track record of working from home.
While I accept that Westpac may obtain some benefit from minimal levels of in-office attendance in Ms Chandler's case, I also think that the consequences of not making an order are seriously prejudicial for the applicant and her family, FWC deputy president Tom Roberts said.
Ms Chandler argued she lived out of Sydney and that getting to a Westpac corporate office would take almost two hours.
The commission said there was no reasonable ground for Westpac to deny Ms Chandler's remote working request.
The commission can allow decisions to be appealed.
Employers now 'on notice'
In the wake of the landmark decision, employers across the country have been warned they are now on notice over strict return to work policies.
The Finance Sector Union, which took up Ms Chandler's case, said the decision showed working from home is a right, not a privilege.
Westpac not only failed to meet its obligations to consider Ms Chandler's request to work from home in accordance with the Fair Work Act, but Westpac's refusal of her request was found to not be based on reasonable business grounds, FSU national secretary Julia Angrisano said.
Employers in the banking and finance industry are increasingly relying on the supposed benefit of 'face-to-face' contact as a reason to refuse requests for flexible working arrangements, and that's unacceptable.
This decision puts all employers on notice that they will need to have genuine business reasons to refuse a flexible working arrangement request; employers will also need to demonstrate that they have met all their obligations under the Fair Work Act before any refusal.
In a statement to news.com.au, a Westpac spokesperson said the bank would consider the ruling.
For privacy reasons, we're unable to comment on matters relating to individual employees, the spokesperson said.
Westpac's workplace policy is designed to help our people deliver the best outcomes for customers, no matter where they work. It ensures meaningful collaboration within teams while providing flexibility to work from home.
Westpac has a large, diverse workforce and our policies remain consistent with the Westpac Group Enterprise Agreement.
Westpac currently operates under a hybrid working policy, with staff required to attend the office two to three days a week.
However, on the company's website it also states that every position is flexible and therefore anything is possible.
No matter what role you have with us, we'll look at how you can do your job with the flexibility you need while achieving great things in our business, it reads.
That means exploring how you can fit your job around your life - not the other way around.
One of the suggested ways to achieve this flexibility include working away from the office, either regularly or as you need to.
Despite this public commitment to flexibility, Westpac CEO Anthony Miller has been one of the industry leaders to raise concerns about Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan's working from home plan.
The premier is pushing ahead with plans to enshrine remote working protections into law.
Speaking to 3AW in August, Mr Miller revealed he works from the office during the week and will work from home on the weekends.
He warned that regulating flexible work arrangements could cause tension between staff.
One thing that we do grapple with … as you start to try and regulate these things you come up against these kinds of tensions, is that my magnificent branch staff are in the office effectively five days a week, he said.
So if we want to create that team culture of everyone working together … you've got to work through those kinds of challenges where some people can work from home a couple of days a week but many have to be in the office five days.
Mr Miller recognised that flexible working arrangements were important to staff, pointing to Westpac's own hybrid policy, but said he still had to ensure working from home doesn't compromise outcomes.
We very much support and accept that work from home is here to stay and, in fact, the policy of the bank is that we encourage people to be in the office about three days a week, he said.
What's key for me is I've got to get outcomes, so it's all very well to work from home but we still need to perform, we still need to deliver, we still need to deliver that service to our customers, and so that's the challenge - making sure that working from home doesn't compromise what we deliver.
https://www.news.com.au/finance/work/sydney-mum-wins-right-to-work-from-home-in-fight-against-westpac/news-story/0ad65d26dc77163f5982e4318a5d3439
