Calls for legal right to flexible hours for carers

Mischa Schubert in Legal right to flexible hours wins backing writes about moves to allow parents and carers greater rights to flexible work hours. She writes:

But employer advocates are strongly resisting the idea, saying the current unenforceable right to ask for flexibility — which only applies to the parents of children who are disabled or preschool — goes far enough. And some carer advocates who welcome the move have voiced fears it could result in businesses being more reluctant to hire carers, a notion disputed by workplace academics.

She also notes that:

An inquiry into the draft legislation has heard evidence from workplace law experts that stronger laws for carers are working well in Germany, the Netherlands and Britain.

But the Australian Industry Group said business was under enough pressure at the moment, and that most already tried to accommodate their workers. It testified that if workers could appeal to an industrial umpire when they were refused a request for flexible hours, it would stoke adversarial tension.

"It changes the notion and the intent; instead of it being an open dialogue, it turns into an us-versus-them situation, which sometimes can be problematic," Ai Group workplace relations adviser Genevieve Vaccaro told the hearing.

So, when business groups call for greater flexibility it sounds as if they just mean greater flexibility for the employer, not the employee.

Oh, and I note the perennial argument of now not being the right time (in this case "business was under enough pressure at the moment"). If we any credence to this argument we'll never get anything done. Business should always be under pressure in a competitive environment (and how outside the ranks of our corporate executives doesn't want a competitive environment).