Working in Australia - Working Mothers

WORKING mothers have won the right to ask for part-time employment until their children go to school under what could be the last national test case to be heard by the Australian Industrial Relations Commission (AIRC).

The AIRC today also granted Australia's 1.6 million award workers the right to ask for up to two years' unpaid parental leave and for fathers to take up to eight weeks' leave after the birth of their child.
And all workers will be entitled to take 10 days' leave each year to care for sick children or other family members.
However, sitting in Melbourne, the full bench of the AIRC rejected the bulk of an ACTU claim in the family provision test case, including allowing workers to change their hours, days of work and meal breaks to suit their family life.

While workers will have the right to ask for the new family friendly provisions, employers may still refuse them on grounds such as cost, lack of replacement staff, loss of efficiency and the impact on customer service. Even so, ACTU president Sharan Burrow said the decision had established new rights for working families.

"This is a very important day for working families and we believe the commission has actually found a very sound balance between the needs of employers and workers," she said.
The Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry's workplace policy director Peter Anderson said the decision showed that a one size fits all approach did not suit the need for modern flexible workplaces.

It is unclear whether the changes will be included in legislated minimum standards by the Howard government in its planned industrial relations reforms.
Today's decision could be the last made by the full bench of the AIRC in a national test case, with the Government planning to reduce the commission's powers under its changes to workplace laws.