Aussie mum scores massive work-from-home victory

A Sydney mother working as a support specialist sought work-from-home arrangements after a Fair Work dispute. She said her employer pressured her to return to the office after nearly a decade of remote work. She argued that commuting from her home would take several hours on public transport and would disrupt her family routine. She also said her child’s special needs and her responsibility for daycare and school made office attendance harmful to her mental health and her daughter’s wellbeing. The employer said its business model required at least partial office work for relationships, training, communications, and awareness. The employee said her team already had multiple hybrid and fully remote arrangements across several locations.

"Laura Kliffen, who works as a support specialist at real estate software company Reapit, said she had been pressured by her employer to return to the office after working remotely for almost a decade. Kliffen said the directive to return to the CBD-located office would not work for her family as she looked after two young children, one of whom has special needs, and she was responsible for getting them to daycare and school."

"She also claimed travelling to the office would require several hours on public transport from her Berowra Heights home. Kliffen said her mental health and the wellbeing of my family would be severely impacted by the significant change in her routine, with her daughter already showing increased levels of anxiety and an escalation of problematic behaviour due to Kliffen attending the office."

"Reapit said it had changed its business model to require all employees to work at least partly from the office in order to facilitate appropriate and effective relationships, training, communications and awareness. The company also highlighted that Kliffen had been seen at a social lawn bowls event for the company, but had not been seen in the office."

"Pushing back, Kliffen said of the 11 people on her team, six have hybrid working arrangements including three based in Manila, two are based in Brisbane and one is based in Sydney. Four of her team members also work fully remotely, including two from Sydney, one on the Sunshine Coast and one in Melbourne."

Read at 7news.com.au