EMPLOYMENT RELATIONS (FLEXIBLE WORKING ARRANGEMENTS) AMENDMENT ACT 2007
Our November 2007 newsletter had an article about the Employment Relations (Flexible Working Arrangements) Amendment Bill. This Bill has now been passed and comes into force on 1 July 2008.
However, a number of very important changes were made to the Bill by the time it was passed.
As originally drafted, the Bill enabled Employees who had full-time care of young and dependent children (a child or children under 5 years, or a disabled child or children up to and including 18 years) the statutory right to request flexible working arrangements, that is a change to their hours and or days of work.
However, the eligibility has been extended now to allow Employees to request a variation of their working arrangements if they have the care of any person.
The statutory right to request flexible working arrangements has now been extended to not only include a change to the Employee’s hours and or days of work, but also a change in the place of work, such as working at home.
To be eligible, the Employee must have been working for the Employer for the preceding 6 months and must make the request in writing and state:
- the Employee's name;
- the date on which the request is made;
- under what part of the Act the request is made;
- specify the variation of the working arrangements requested and whether the variation is permanent or for a period of time;
- specify the date on which the Employee proposes that the variation take effect and, if the variation is for a period of time, the date on which the variation is to end;
- explain, in the Employee's view, how the variation will enable the Employee to provide better care for the person concerned;
- explain, in the Employee's view, what changes, if any, the Employer may need to make to the Employer's arrangements if the Employee's request is approved.
The Employer is still required to consider the request as soon as possible, but the Act now requires the decision to be made within 3 months.
As originally drafted, there were only 6 reasons that would justify the Employer’s rejection of a request.
The Act has extended this to 8 reasons, namely
(a) inability to reorganise work among existing staff:
(b) inability to recruit additional staff:
(c) detrimental impact on quality:
(d) detrimental impact on performance:
(e) insufficiency of work during the periods the Employee proposes to work:
(f) planned structural changes:
(g) burden of additional costs:
(h) detrimental effect on ability to meet customer demand.
However, an Employer must refuse a request if
(a) the request is from an Employee who is bound by a collective agreement; and
(b) the request relates to working arrangements to which the collective agreement applies; and
(c ) the Employee's working arrangements would be inconsistent with the collective agreement if the Employer were to approve the request.
If a request is refused, an Employee has 12 months to apply to the Employment Relations Authority if mediation to try to solve the matter has failed.
For more information, please call us at (09) 447-1527
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