Recent years have witnessed an increased emphasis on the need for employers to implement measures that enable employees to balance work with their other responsibilities.

Many employers have voluntarily introduced various kinds of flexible working arrangements intended to promote “work life balance”. These have included part-time work, changes to hours of work, job sharing, working from home, and additional leave entitlements. Often, such initiatives are introduced to enhance the employer’s reputation as an “employer of choice”, and to attract and retain good staff.

The right to request flexible working arrangements now forms part of the National Employment Standards in Pt 2-2 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth) (FW Act). The right is available to certain national system employees, including employees who have parental responsibility for a child who is of school age or younger, employees with a disability and employees over 55 years old.

An employer may only refuse an employee's request for flexible working arrangements under the NES on "reasonable business grounds". However employees do not have the capacity under the FW Act to challenge the substantive reasons behind an employer's decision to refuse any request for flexible working arrangements, or to apply for a review of such a decision.

See Requesting flexible working arrangements — NES provisions.

Equal employment opportunity laws in each Australian state and territory make it unlawful for employers to discriminate against employees based on protected attributes such as their family responsibilities, status as a parent or carer, pregnancy, or breastfeeding. While these laws do not generally provide a positive entitlement for employees to request flexible working arrangements, denying such arrangements to employees who have a protected attribute could amount to unlawful discrimination.

See Flexible working arrangements — Equal opportunity legislation.