We have been getting a steady stream of the same question lately: an employee has asked for a flexible working arrangement, the employer does not want to agree to it, and they want to know whether they are allowed to say no. It is a good question to be asking, because the rules changed in 2023, and saying no is no longer simply an internal decision.
Since 6 June 2023, the right to request flexible working arrangements comes with a process the employer has to follow, and a right for the employee to take the matter to the Fair Work Commission if it is refused or ignored. The request itself has not changed much. What has changed is what happens after it lands on your desk.
Who can ask
Under the Fair Work Act, an employee can request a flexible working arrangement if they have at least 12 months of continuous service, or, for a casual, they have been employed on a regular and systematic basis for at least 12 months with a reasonable expectation of continuing work, and they fall into one of the eligible circumstances. Those circumstances are that the employee is pregnant; is the parent of, or has responsibility for the care of, a child who is school-aged or younger; is a carer; has a disability; is 55 or older; is experiencing family and domestic violence; or is providing care or support to a member of their household or immediate family who is experiencing family and domestic violence.
A flexible working arrangement is a change to the hours, patterns or location of work. That might be different start and finish times, a move to part-time, a compressed working week, or working from home.
How a valid request is made
The request must be in writing, and it must set out the change the employee is asking for and the reasons for it. That written request is what starts the clock. A passing comment in the corridor is not a request under the Act. I would not lean on that too heavily though. If an employee is clearly asking, it is usually better to put the process on foot than to stand on formality and risk the request being treated as ignored.
What you have to do when a request lands
This is where the 2023 changes bite, and where most of the risk now sits. When you receive a valid request you must respond in writing within 21 days. Before you can refuse, you must have done a few things, and be able to show that you did them. You must discuss the request with the employee. You must genuinely try to reach an agreement with them, which can include an alternative arrangement that is not exactly what they asked for. You must have regard to the consequences of refusal for the employee. And you can only refuse on reasonable business grounds.
If you do refuse, the written response has to do more than say no. It must explain the business grounds you are relying on and how they apply to the request, set out any changes to the employee’s working arrangements you are willing to make, or state that there are none, and tell the employee about the ways the dispute can be resolved, including through the Fair Work Commission. A one-line “no, it does not suit us” is not a compliant response, and it is exactly the kind of response that ends up before the Commission.
What counts as reasonable business grounds
The Act gives examples, and they are practical rather than technical. Reasonable business grounds can include that the arrangement would be too costly; that there is no capacity to change the working arrangements of other employees to accommodate it; that it would be impractical to change other employees’ arrangements or to recruit new staff; that it would be likely to result in a significant loss of efficiency or productivity; or that it would be likely to have a significant negative impact on customer service. The word doing the work in most of these is “significant”. A minor inconvenience is not a reasonable business ground. The grounds also need to be genuine and tied to how your business actually operates, not a general reluctance to change.
The part that is new: the Commission can now step in
This is the shift employers most need to understand. Before the reforms, if you refused a request, that was largely the end of it. Now, if you refuse, or if you simply let the 21 days pass without responding, the employee can take the dispute to the Fair Work Commission. The Commission will first try to resolve it by conciliation or mediation, and if that does not work it can arbitrate and make binding orders, including an order that you grant the arrangement. In other words, your decision to refuse can now be reviewed, and overturned, by someone else. What the Commission looks at is the process you followed and the reasons you gave.
The net observation
You can still say no to a flexible working request. The right to request is not a right to receive. But the decision is no longer yours alone to make and forget. It is a decision you have to make properly, explain in writing, and be able to defend. In practice, the employers who come unstuck here are almost never the ones who refused for a poor reason. They are the ones who refused for a perfectly good reason but did it badly: no real discussion, no genuine attempt to find middle ground, a late or bare response, and no mention of the dispute process. Get the process right and a refusal on genuine grounds will generally hold. Get it wrong and the strength of your grounds may not save you.
If you have a flexible working request in front of you and you are not sure whether your grounds are strong enough, or how to word the response, that is worth getting right the first time rather than unwinding later. I am happy to help you work through a request or draft the response: emilie@hrautomate.au.
This article is general information current as at August 2026 and is not legal advice. Flexible working arrangement rights are set by the Fair Work Act and, in some cases, an applicable award or enterprise agreement. How they apply depends on your circumstances. For a specific matter, obtain advice.
Principal, HR Automate. Senior HR and industrial relations practitioner.