From 'Please Sir' to 'See You in the Fair Work Commission': Requests for Reasonable Treatment and the Changing Role of the Commission
Published 2026-07-08
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Abstract
The Fair Work regime includes various ‘rights to request reasonable treatment’. These straddle four areas: flexible work arrangements, extended parental leave, conversion from casual to ongoing status, and disconnecting from work communications outside normal hours. Disputes about employer responses to such requests were recently made subject to arbitral review by the Fair Work Commission.
This article explores two related themes. First is a description of these ‘rights to request’, including how their jurisprudential nature varies depending on whether they are subject to review. Second is how this review jurisdiction fits within the Commission’s workload. This jurisdiction fits within a longer trajectory, in which the Commission has evolved from resolving collective disputes to a focus on more legalistic, individual rights. Ultimately the article asks why individual disputes about reasonable future treatment are subject to guaranteed arbitration, when most collective bargaining disputes are not.