You might need or want to ask for changes to your work to better suit your needs.
There are two main ways to do this. This guide helps you understand your options.
This guide is for:
- AEU members with disability who need to ensure their workplace supports them adequately,
- AEU members who want to alter their working arrangements to better suit their circumstances,
- AEU members who are managers, and
- AEU members who support other members.
Making sure that everyone is treated fairly, equitably and with respect is core union business.
The difference between ‘reasonable adjustments’ and ‘flexible working arrangements’ can be confusing. Knowing which path to go down will help you secure the best result.
Here’s a quick guide:
| Reasonable adjustments | Flexible working arrangements |
| Use reasonable adjustments if you have a disability. The definition of disability is fairly wide. | Use flexible working arrangements if you are: – A parent of a child school-age or younger – 55 or older – A carer for someone who is sick or aged – Experiencing family or domestic violence or caring for someone who is – Pregnant |
| Can your request be refused? The employer can only refuse to provide adjustments if it causes them unjustifiable hardship. | Can your request be refused? Yes, if the employer has reasonable business grounds to refuse. There is a process that should be followed to make sure there is a reasonable result. |
The difference between flexible working arrangements and reasonable adjustments is that they serve different purposes and have a different threshold for employer refusal.
Because reasonable adjustments are about removing discrimination, the test for refusal is higher.
If you have a disability, making a request for reasonable adjustments will generally be the better pathway for you.
The rest of this guide details each of these pathways.
Reasonable adjustments #
Reasonable adjustments are changes to your work that remove barriers caused by disability.
For workers in education, examples of reasonable adjustments could be:
- Physical changes to your work environment: standing desks, ramps, parking
- Sensory support: noise-cancelling headphones, quiet workspace, adjusted lighting
- Technology and tools: screen readers, speech-to-text software, digital recorders, modified keyboards
- Work schedule changes: flexible hours, longer breaks, working from home when possible, blocks of uninterrupted time
- Organisation and memory support: written and verbal instructions, tasks broken into steps, regular check-ins, deadline reminders
- Communication adjustments: emails instead of phone calls, one-on-one meetings, advance notice of changes
- Task or duty modifications: adjusting responsibilities or expectations
This is not an exhaustive list – everyone is different. Adjustments should be tailored to your needs.
The golden rule is that the adjustment needs to be reasonable. You still need to be able to meet the inherent requirements of your role. For example, a teacher needs to be able to safely supervise and teach students.
Who can request reasonable adjustments?
You can request reasonable adjustments if you have a disability.
What counts as disability?
The definition of disability in the Disability Discrimination Act (1992) is broad. It includes:
- Physical conditions: Loss of body function, missing body parts, illness, disease, or conditions affecting how your body works or looks
- Mental health conditions: Conditions affecting thoughts, emotions, behaviour
- Learning conditions: Conditions affecting how you learn or process information
- Conditions that others think you have, whether this is true or not
It’s important to notice how wide this definition is. It includes people who may identify as neurodiverse because of conditions like ADHD, autism, dyslexia, and so on.
You do not need a formal diagnosis of your disability to request a reasonable adjustment.
How should I request a reasonable adjustment?
If you meet the criteria of disability and there is an adjustment that could be made to help you do your work, here is how to go about requesting it. We recommend that you:
- Send an email to your manager or principal
- In the email, explain the barriers you’re experiencing at work and the specific adjustments that could help
- Give enough information about your disability to help your manager or principal understand how to support you.
You’re not required to disclose medical information if you don’t want to. You just need to give enough information for them to understand what you need.
You should use the words ‘reasonable adjustment’ in your email.
Your manager or principal might want to then have a conversation with you about how to best support your needs. It might be that they can think of a type of adjustment that you haven’t considered, or they might want to do something different to what you suggest that still gets a good result.
You can bring a support person to any meeting like this. You can also reach out to the AEU office for help or advice. Emailing or calling the Branch office is the best way to do this.
Can my request for reasonable adjustments be refused?
An employer can only reject a request for a reasonable adjustment if implementing them would cause ‘unjustifiable hardship’ to the employer. This is a high bar.
Before deciding that an adjustment would cause unjustifiable hardship, your employer must:
- Thoroughly consider how an adjustment might be made,
- Discuss this directly with you, and
- Consult relevant sources of advice.
If the employer decides that they cannot provide adjustments because doing so would cause unjustifiable hardship, it’s their responsibility to show how.
It’s useful to understand that your employer is not your school, it’s the ACT Government.
With that in mind, it’s not appropriate to turn down a reasonable adjustment request because of your school’s budget, for example. The ACT Government must support its workplaces to provide adjustments where they are reasonable and justified.
Even if an adjustment costs money or causes some inconvenience, it’s only ‘unjustifiable hardship’ if the burden is genuinely excessive when weighed against all of the benefits and detriments to the employee and the workplace. The test protects against employers claiming minor costs or effort as reasons to refuse adjustments.
If your request for a reasonable adjustment is refused, the AEU office can give you advice. Send us an email and we will get back to you.
Flexible working arrangements #
Flexible working arrangements usually relate to the time or place of your work. For example, it might include part-time or reduced hours, a compressed working week, remote or hybrid work, flexible start and finish times, or job sharing arrangements.
Who can request flexible working arrangements?
You’re eligible to request flexible working arrangements if you meet one of the following criteria:
- You’re a parent or carer of a child of school age or younger,
- You care for someone with disability, terminal/chronic medical condition, mental illness, or who is frail and aged,
- You’re 55 or older
- You’re experiencing family or domestic violence
- You’re providing care to a household member experiencing family or domestic violence,
- You’re pregnant, or
- You have a disability (but if you have a disability, reasonable adjustments would likely be a more beneficial pathway – see section above for more info).
How should I request a flexible working arrangement?
If you meet one of the criteria listed above and there is a way that your work could better suit your circumstances, here is how to go about requesting it. We recommend that you:
- Send an email to your manager or principal
- In the email, explain the circumstances you’re facing and identify the specific flexible working arrangements that could help you
- Give enough information about your circumstances to help your manager or principal understand how to support you.
You should use the words ‘flexible working arrangement’ in your email.
You may need to provide evidence for the request. The evidence should match the grounds on which you’re making the request. The key is to be consistent.
Your manager or principal might want to then have a conversation with you about how to best support your circumstances. It might be that they can think of a type of arrangement that you haven’t considered, or they might want to do something different to what you suggest that still gets a good result.
Your school or workplace must consult with you and provide a written response to you within 21 days.
You can bring a support person to any meeting you have regarding flexible working arrangements. You can also reach out to the AEU office for help or advice. Emailing or calling the Branch office is the best way to do this.
Can my request for a flexible working arrangement be refused?
Yes, but there is a process that must be followed. This process is outlined in your enterprise agreement.
Your request can only be refused if all of the following criteria are met:
- Your manager or principal has discussed the request with you
- They’ve tried to reach agreement with you about making changes to accommodate your particular circumstances
- They’ve considered the consequences of refusing your request, and
- There are reasonable business grounds for refusing the request.
‘Reasonable business grounds’ can include any of the following:
- The working arrangements requested would be too costly to implement, would likely result in a significant loss in efficiency or productivity, or would likely have a significant negative impact on service delivery,
- There is no capacity to change the way other employees work in order to accommodate your request,
- It would be impractical to change the working arrangements of other employees or recruit new employees to accommodate the new working arrangements requested by the employee,
- There would be a genuine risk to the health and safety of you or another employee, or
- There are other exceptional circumstances that mean that the request cannot be approved.
If your request is refused, you should be informed in writing. The response should include the reasons for refusal, an explanation of any reasonable business grounds for refusing the request, and how the reasonable business grounds apply to the request.
The response must also provide either of the following:
- Alternative proposals for changes to your working arrangements that would accommodate your circumstances, to any extent, or
- A statement that there are no alternative arrangements available that would accommodate your circumstances, to any extent.
If you think that this process has not been followed properly, you might have grounds to raise a dispute. In these circumstances, contact the AEU office for advice.