Victoria’s incoming work from home laws should have a hard two-day limit and be pushed back seven months to March, a peak business group says.The Bill is currently working its way through the state parliament, but the government intends to have the amendments enshrined and ready to go by September 1.The Victorian Congress of Employer Associations on Monday released “a ten-point plan to overhaul” the proposed laws.While the current Bill proposes the laws come into effect September 1, the business group wants that date pushed to March 1. The Bill also gives businesses with less than 15 staff until July 1 next year to comply, but the congress wants a staggered start for any business with less than 200 staff.“The proposed commencement timetable is also dangerously compressed,” a congress spokesperson said.“This would leave employers scrambling to rewrite policies, establish new processes, assess safety obligations, understand cost liabilities, train managers and respond to employee notices under an entirely new legal regime.”The business group warns the laws add “unnecessary complexity, cost and uncertainty” at a time when Victoria has a declining number of “employing businesses” and unemployment higher than only Tasmania.The proposed laws give all Victorian workers the right to work from home two days a week if it is reasonable to do so, with pro rata arrangements for part-time or casual workers.A worker on probation, apprentices, trainees, interns and staff or graduate programs are excluded.While the Victorian Congress of Employer Associations is calling for a hard two-day cap, the legislation already would not change workplace arrangements for workers with current flexible working arrangements under the federal Fair Work Act.Under the proposal, an employee will have to provide a written work from home notice to their employer, who will then have 21 days to respond. The onus is on the employer to actively dispute the request.The business can weigh up whether working from home decreases productivity, undermines the training of other employees or damages client and stakeholder relationships.The state government says the laws would save each worker an average of $5308 a year.Read related topics:Melbourne