Anja Pich is a commercial lawyer and the Managing Lawyer at Lawpath. She practises across all areas of commercial law and advises businesses of every size, from first-time founders to established companies, on their legal, regulatory and commercial needs.
The Clerks Award now lets your admin staff ask in writing to work from home. You decide each request, and the law protects their right to ask. The new clause applies from 26 October 2026, and it sets out how requests and agreements work. If you employ receptionists, bookkeepers, admin assistants or office coordinators, this is the award that sets their minimum pay and conditions, and it now sets the rules for working from home too.
Working from home has run on handshake deals and email threads for years. Now there’s a clause with written steps attached, and a dispute about it can end up at the Fair Work Commission. Each step takes a few minutes.
- A new working from home clause starts 26 October 2026. It applies from each employee’s first full pay period on or after that date.
- Requests and agreements must be in writing. The request names the days or pattern; the agreement records what was agreed.
- You can refuse, and you can’t punish. The clause sets no refusal test, and asking is a protected workplace right, so adverse action against an employee for making a request is unlawful.
- Disputes run through the award’s dispute clause. Clause 40 takes an unresolved disagreement to the Fair Work Commission.
- It runs alongside section 65 flexible work requests. Some staff can use both pathways, and each runs on its own rules.
What is the Clerks Award, and does it cover your staff?
Formally the Clerks – Private Sector Award 2020 (MA000002), it covers employees doing clerical and administrative work in businesses that aren’t covered by an industry-specific award. Think reception, data entry, accounts, payroll admin, office management, and general clerical support. If your business is a law firm, a trades company, a marketing agency or a wholesaler, odds are your office staff sit under this award.
Coverage turns on the work the person does. Someone called an “operations coordinator” who spends their day on clerical tasks is likely covered. Someone doing genuinely professional or managerial work may not be. The day-to-day duties decide it, whatever the title says.
Minimum rates run across classification levels from Level 1 up, plus overtime, penalty rates, allowances and span of hours. You can check coverage and current rates on the Fair Work Ombudsman’s Clerks Award summary. If you are not certain whether a role is covered, that is worth sorting before you build a WFH policy on top of a shaky base.
What changed on 26 October 2026?
The Fair Work Commission decided in August 2026 to add a working from home clause (clause 5A) to the Clerks Award, and made the final determination on 19 October 2026 in matter AM2024/34. The clause applies from each employee’s first full pay period starting on or after 26 October 2026.
The clause gives clerical employees a structured way to ask to work from home and gives you a structured way to respond. Approval stays your call. The clause puts the process on paper and gives the Commission a role through the dispute clause if you can’t agree.
The clause leaves the refusal grounds open. During the case a union pushed for a formal “right to request” model with set refusal grounds, and the Full Bench left it out. That leaves you room to decide, and the protected workplace right sets the limit on how you treat the person who asked.
How does a working from home request work under the Clerks Award?
A request starts with the employee, and it has to be in writing. Verbal “can I work from home Fridays?” chats are fine as a conversation starter, but the clause runs on a written request. That request should set out the days or the pattern the employee wants: two fixed days a week, a rotating roster, mornings at home and afternoons in the office, whatever the arrangement is.
When a request lands, look at the role, talk it through with the employee and give an answer. A prompt, reasoned response is good practice, and it’s the strongest position to be in if the disagreement goes to the dispute clause.
Keep the request on file with the employee’s records, because it shows exactly what was asked for.
What must the written working from home agreement record?
If you say yes, clause 5A.6 sets what the written agreement has to cover. Each item is short, and together they fit on one page.
- The location. The agreement names where the employee will work on home days.
- Modified award terms. It sets out any award terms the arrangement changes, so both of you can see what differs from the standard terms.
- Facilitative agreements. It records any facilitative agreement under the award that the arrangement relies on.
- The start date. It states the date the arrangement begins.
Keep the signed agreement as a time-and-wages record, give the employee a copy, and make sure they entered it freely, because the clause rules out coercion. You can record it in your employment agreement or a standalone WFH schedule.
One caveat. If the arrangement also varies award conditions like ordinary hours or penalty rates, that can call for a separate individual flexibility arrangement, which is its own document with its own rules. Working from home on the same hours is simpler. Reshaping the hours is where it gets technical.
Can you refuse a working from home request?
Yes, you can refuse, and the clause sets no fixed refusal test. The limit sits elsewhere: making a request is a protected workplace right under the general protections in the Fair Work Act 2009, so you can’t take adverse action against an employee because they asked. Cutting their shifts, sidelining them or dismissing them for making a request exposes you to a general protections claim.
A refusal that follows a conversation, considers the role and is explained in writing is the easiest one to stand behind if the employee disputes it.
If a request is refused and the employee isn’t satisfied, the matter goes through the award’s dispute clause (clause 40), which can end at the Fair Work Commission. Treat every refusal as a decision you might have to explain to the Commission.
How does this sit beside a section 65 flexible work request?
Your clerical staff may have two separate ways to ask for remote work, and they are governed by different rules.
The first is the new Clerks Award clause 5A, which any covered employee can use. The second is a flexible working arrangement request under section 65 of the Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), which is part of the National Employment Standards. Section 65 is only open to certain employees: parents of school-age or younger children, carers, employees with a disability, those aged 55 or older, and people dealing with family or domestic violence, among others. They also generally need 12 months’ service.
Section 65 comes with a firm 21-day written-response deadline and a defined “reasonable business grounds” test for refusal. The award clause runs its own process. A single employee might be eligible for both, so when a request lands, work out which pathway it sits under before you respond, because each pathway carries its own obligations. Our guide on whether you have to offer flexible working walks through the section 65 side in detail.
Where employers go wrong with the new clause
Treating a title as a get-out. “She’s an office manager, the award doesn’t apply.” Coverage follows duties. Check the real work before you decide the clause is irrelevant.
Blanket “office-first” policies. A flat rule applied without looking at the individual request is hard to defend in a dispute. Assess each request against the role.
Treating a request as a black mark. Moving someone off a good roster or passing them over after they ask can look like adverse action. Keep the request and the employee’s treatment separate.
Confusing the award clause with section 65. Employers respond to an award request as if the 21-day NES clock applies, or ignore the NES deadline on a genuine section 65 request. Identify the pathway first.
Forgetting the right to disconnect. Home days blur the line on after-hours contact. The Clerks Award already carries a right to disconnect term, so pinging a remote employee at 9pm because “they’re home anyway” is its own separate risk.
A worked example: a small office team
Say you run a six-person business with two admin staff covered by the Clerks Award. One of them emails you a written request to work from home on Mondays and Fridays to cut a long commute.
You reply to confirm you’ve received the request and set a time to talk. In that conversation you look at the role: can the reception phones and front-counter cover be handled remotely two days a week, or does someone need to be in? You land on a trial: Fridays from home, Mondays in the office because that’s your busiest counter day. You put it in a short written agreement that records where she’ll work on Fridays, any award terms it modifies, and the start date. She signs, you keep it with her time-and-wages records and give her a copy.
You engaged, shaped the arrangement around the business, and recorded it in the form the clause asks for. If it’s ever questioned, that record is your answer.
Get your Full Time Employment Agreement legal document for free.
Frequently asked questions
When does the Clerks Award working from home clause start?
It applies from each employee’s first full pay period starting on or after 26 October 2026. It comes from the Fair Work Commission’s decision in AM2024/34 and sits in the Clerks – Private Sector Award 2020 as clause 5A.
Can an employer refuse a working from home request under the Clerks Award?
Yes. Approval is your call, and the clause sets no fixed list of refusal grounds. Making a request is a protected workplace right, so you can’t take adverse action against an employee for asking. Disputes go through the award’s dispute clause to the Fair Work Commission.
Does a Clerks Award working from home arrangement have to be in writing?
Yes. The request is made in writing and names the days or pattern, and an approved arrangement is recorded in a written agreement covering the location, any modified award terms, any facilitative agreement and the start date. Keep the agreement as a time-and-wages record and give the employee a copy.
What’s the difference between the award clause and a section 65 request?
The Clerks Award clause is open to any covered employee and runs its own process. A section 65 flexible work request is part of the National Employment Standards, is limited to certain eligible employees, and comes with a 21-day written-response deadline and a reasonable business grounds test. An employee can qualify for both, so check which applies.
Who does the Clerks Award cover?
It covers employees doing clerical and administrative work in private sector businesses not covered by an industry-specific award: reception, data entry, accounts, payroll admin, office coordination and similar roles. Coverage depends on the duties the person actually performs, not their job title.
Getting it right from here
The clause is new enough that putting your process in place this month puts you ahead of most small businesses. Check which staff the award covers, answer requests with reasons, and record each agreement in the form clause 5A.6 sets.
Start by making sure your employment paperwork can actually hold a WFH arrangement. Set up a compliant full time employment agreement with Lawpath, and if a request gets complicated, you can get a fixed-fee quote from an employment lawyer through the same platform. One page, signed by both of you, and the next request takes five minutes.
