Some important clauses written in the Employment (Amendment) Act 2022 when it comes to FWA:
Clause 60P(1) “… An employee may apply to an employer for a flexible working arrangement to vary the hours of work, days of work or place of work in relation to his employment.”
60Q(1) “The employee shall make an application for flexible working arrangement under section 60P in writing and in the form and manner as may determined by the Director General.”
60Q(2) “Upon the application made under subsection (1), an employer shall, within sixty days from the date such application is received, approve or refuse the application.”
60Q(3) “The employer shall inform the employee in writing of the employer’s approval or refusal of the application under subsection (1) and in the case of refusal, the employer shall state the ground of such refusal.”
And that’s pretty much it which somehow sent a frenzy to a lot of employers esp for those in the hospitality and manufacturing sectors. Of course, when it comes to FWA, a lot of common sense is required to be exercised. For example, for the mentioned sectors, we can’t simply choose where we want to work.
Whilst I can understand it’s not going to be practical for everybody, I think it’s a nice first step to regulate FWA. Even the employer has the right to refuse but I find the whole the process does encourage employers to listen first, no?
During the pandemic era, I remember I’ve read a lot of sarcastic statements in articles that said something like, “It took a deadly virus to force a trial run of remote working…” or “I’ve learnt majority of people can work from home” next to a line like “I’ve also learnt if you build more schools, you have to construct less hospitals.”
Aaahhhh… education is so important indeed. So a suggestion would be HR to consider preparing a FWA policy that clearly communicates who can and who cannot, injecting some common sense to the people too.
#POV #EA1955 #BebelBimbo
