General news

Westpac’s backflip followed our recent landmark case in the Fair Work Commission, where we represented another Westpac employee, Karlene Chandler, in a bid to have her FWA approved after it was knocked back.

In that case, the Commission ruled that Westpac must approve our member’s request to continue to work from home despite Westpac’s in-office mandate. Significantly, Westpac has decided not to appeal the Commission’s decision.

Didn’t fit the ‘cookie-cutter mould’

Tracey was in a similar situation to Karlene. Her request for an FWA was declined by Westpac because of the need for ‘connection’ and ‘collaboration’ with her team.

This was despite Tracey being the only member of her team located in Western Australia. What’s more, she had successfully worked remotely for years, including for more than a year with an FWA in place. That arrangement allowed her to work earlier hours and two days a week at a local branch rather than a corporate office located hours away.

After re-applying for the same arrangement, Westpac insisted that Tracey now attend a corporate office two days a week. This would cost her roughly $2500 a year in travel expenses, in addition to childcare costs.

“I didn’t fit into their cookie-cutter mould,” Tracey said. “I was getting a lot of, ‘Other people have spoiled it for everybody else’, to which I said, ‘But I’m a proven performer, so I shouldn’t have to fall under the banner of everybody else’.

“A flexible work arrangement is an individual arrangement, it’s not a blanket arrangement.”

Tracey called on the FSU for help. Prior to us raising a dispute in Tracey’s case, the Commission delivered its decision in Karlene’s case. We informed Westpac of our expectation that, in light of this, Tracey’s FWA request should be immediately approved.

And it was!

“I was thrilled,” Tracey said, adding it “felt like a win for common sense”.

“The arrangement I have in place means I don’t have to put my kids into before and after school care, and it means I’m actually here for my kids while completing a 40-hour work week.

“Without it, I’d probably have to go part-time.”

Wider implications for finance sector

Both Tracey and Karlene’s wins are good news for the rest of our sector. They send a strong message to all employers – specifically, that employers must have reasonable business grounds for refusing an FWA request, and that they must demonstrate they have met all their obligations under the Fair Work Act before making any refusal.

Buzz words and jargon like ‘collaboration’ and ‘connection’ do not stack up as an acceptable ‘reasonable business ground’ to justify refusing an individual employee’s FWA request.

Since the Commission’s decision in October, the FSU has written to all employers in the finance sector, calling on them to review all FWA refusals in the past 12 months, and to commit to complying with all legal requirements when considering FWA requests.

Our union is now assisting more members to secure their FWA requests.

If your employer has instructed you to adhere to an in-office mandate that is not consistent with your FWA, or if you would like to request a new FWA, submit your request for assistance here.

(Remember, to be eligible to make a request for a FWA, you must meet certain criteria – check out our member fact sheet for more information.)

FWAs can be a win-win

The FSU has long championed working from home. Today, FWAs are fundamental in modern workplaces and cannot be ignored.

Adopting a ‘one size fits all’ approach to working in the office (as we have seen employers increasingly attempting to do) is bad practice that ignores individual circumstances, as Tracey learned the hard way.

“A lot of employers seem to want to treat everyone with the same blanket rule, but the reality is that not everyone is the same,” Tracey said.

“You can still get a high-performing employee working from home and have a FWA to meet those needs. Then it’s a win-win for the employee and the employer.”

And for those employees seeking to have their FWAs approved, Tracey has the following advice:

“Don’t take the first rejection you get. Working with the union gave me a lot more firepower than if I’d done it on my own.”