Sometimes businesses may want their employees to move to a new location. Some of the reasons this happens include:

• the primary location of the business moving elsewhere
• the location has been shut down
• when an employee's role has been made redundant and their employer has offered to redeploy them in a different location
• when an employee's role may no longer be available at the current workplace location.

Sometimes, employees don’t agree to relocate because the new workplace:

• is harder to get to by public transport, or
• involves a longer commute to and from home.

Can an employer make their employees relocate?

If relocation is something that’s been agreed to between the employer and employee, it’s more likely to be enforceable. Agreement can be verbal or written.

If nothing has been agreed to, it’s not as clear.

Is an employee entitled to redundancy pay if they don’t agree to relocate?

Employees may be entitled to redundancy pay if it’s reasonable to refuse to move to the new workplace.

If an employee refuses a reasonable offer of redeployment, the employer can make an application to the Fair Work Commission to have the redundancy pay reduced.

What does ‘reasonable’ mean?

Generally, it’s considered reasonable for an employee to refuse to relocate if the relocation causes a material change to, or breaches, their employment contract.

There are a number of other things that need to be considered. These include whether:

• the employee’s contract or agreement says anything about relocating during their employment
• there’s been any change to the employee’s conditions, such as pay, responsibilities or status, following the relocation
• the new location is accessible by public transport
• it takes longer to travel to and from the new workplace
• the employer has taken any steps to ease the burden of extra travel time.

What happens if an employee doesn’t think relocation is reasonable?

Employees should speak to their employer if they think the relocation isn't reasonable and they may be entitled to redundancy pay. 

Employees and employers may also want to discuss flexible working arrangements, such as working from home or dividing where they work between home and the new workplace. 

If the relocation can't be agreed on, there may be other steps that employees can take to sort the issue out. This could include following the dispute resolution procedure in an award or registered agreement. 

Additionally, both employers and employees can access our course on managing difficult conversations in the workplace:

• Managers
• Employees