High Court battle looms for state Labor's work-from-home push
Premier Jacinta Allan has maintained that the government could enshrine a right for public and private sector employees to work from home two days a week via state anti-discrimination laws, but lawyers warn the move directly challenges federal workplace law.
'The advice we have is that when it comes to the federal workplace arrangements, there is the Fair Work Act and there is explicit provision in the Fair Work Act for state-based anti-discrimination laws to continue to apply,' Allan told ABC radio on Monday.
'The Fair Work Act provides us with the floor, and what we're choosing to do here in Victoria is build on that floor to protect working from home as a right.'
Allan's comments put her at odds with lawyers and other legal experts who have cast deep doubt on the government's ability to legislate the right to work from home as most workplace laws are under the jurisdiction of the federal government.
In Victoria, the state has even fewer powers because of a 1996 Kennett government deal that handed powers to regulate employment conditions to the Commonwealth.
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This means that unlike other states, Victoria does not even have the ability to create workplace laws for its own public sector employees.
Stephen Smith, principal at ACTUS Workplace Lawyers, said Victorian legislation to enact a broad right to work from home would be a major constitutional issue.
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