Workplace adjustments, flexible working & disclosures

What people with Parkinson’s and their carers are entitled to ask for

Most people with Parkinson’s want to keep working for as long as possible. Work provides income, structure, and a sense of purpose. But as symptoms change or progress, staying in a job often requires changes: to hours, to duties, to the work environment, or to the way tasks are performed.

Australian law gives workers with disabilities real rights to request these changes. It also places limits on what employers can ask about your health, and it provides protections against discrimination in recruitment and employment. This infosheet explains what those rights are, how to use them, and what to watch out for, including the important question of when and whether to disclose your diagnosis.

Do you have to tell your employer about your diagnosis?

This is one of the most common and most sensitive questions that people with Parkinson’s ask about their employment. The short answer is in most situations, no, you do not have a legal obligation to disclose.

When disclosure is not required

There is no general legal requirement to tell your employer about a health condition. The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth), or DDA, and the common law both support the principle that a person’s medical information is private. An employer cannot demand that you disclose a medical condition unless there is a specific, legitimate reason related to your role.

Before employment, it is unlawful under the DDA for an employer to ask general health questions that are not related to the inherent requirements of the role. You are not required to volunteer information about Parkinson’s in a cover letter, an interview, or a pre-employment medical, unless the question asked is specifically related to your ability to do the job.

When disclosure may be required or advisable

There are circumstances where disclosure may be required or where it becomes practically necessary.

  • Work health and safety: if your Parkinson’s creates a genuine risk to your safety or the safety of others, you may have an obligation under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth) and its state equivalents to notify your employer. The safety risk must be real, not hypothetical. A person whose tremor has progressed to a point where operating certain machinery is unsafe has a different obligation than a person with mild early-stage symptoms.
  • Requesting adjustments: if you want your employer to make adjustments to your role or working conditions, you will generally need to explain why. You do not necessarily need to name the specific condition, but you will need to provide enough information for the employer to understand what you need and why. A letter from your GP or neurologist can help provide context without requiring full disclosure.
  • Honesty obligations: if an employer asks a specific and lawful question about your health, such as whether you have any condition that would prevent you from performing the role, you should answer honestly. Providing false information in response to a direct question may have consequences if it later affects an insurance claim.

Insurance disclosure: different rules apply

The rules about disclosure to insurers are completely separate from the rules about disclosure to employers. When you apply for life insurance, TPD insurance, or income protection insurance, you have a duty to take reasonable care not to make a misrepresentation (Insurance Contracts Act 1984, s.21A, as amended from October 2021).

If an insurer asks whether you have been diagnosed with or have symptoms of a neurological condition, you must answer truthfully. Failure to do so can allow the insurer to reduce or refuse a claim, or to void the policy entirely. If you are diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and you hold existing insurance policies, protect them: do not cancel, lapse, or reduce your cover.

Importantly, you are generally not required to proactively disclose a new diagnosis to an existing insurer if the policy is already in force and you are not making changes to it. If you have existing cover that was taken out before your diagnosis, or before you were aware of symptoms, it is generally protected. Seek financial advice before making any changes to existing policies.

Reasonable adjustments: what the law requires

The Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth) requires employers to make reasonable adjustments to allow an employee with a disability to perform the inherent requirements of their role. An employer who refuses to make a reasonable adjustment, or who fails to consider one, may be committing unlawful disability discrimination.

The concept of “inherent requirements” is important. It refers to the core functions of the role, the tasks that are essential to the job rather than incidental or peripheral. An employer cannot justify a failure to adjust by pointing to a task that could easily be reassigned or modified without affecting the core purpose of the role.

A wide range of adjustments may be reasonable for someone with Parkinson’s disease, depending on their specific symptoms and their job. Research on employment accommodations for people with movement disorders has found that many workers continue employment successfully when provided with appropriate supports, including ergonomic equipment, modified hours, and flexible location (Trachtenberg et al., 2020).

Examples of adjustments that may be appropriate for Parkinson’s disease include modified work hours or shift patterns to align with the times of day when symptoms are best controlled, working from home on high-symptom days, voice-to-text or dictation software for people with hand tremor, ergonomic chairs or desks, reduced or modified writing or typing requirements, reserved parking closer to the workplace entrance, more frequent breaks, a quieter workspace, and modified safety requirements where relevant.

None of these adjustments is guaranteed. The question is whether the adjustment is reasonable, taking into account the cost, the disruption, and the benefit. The larger the employer and the more resources they have, the higher the threshold for what constitutes unjustifiable hardship.

Job Access: employer support for workplace adjustments

The Australian Government’s Job Access program provides financial assistance to employers to help fund workplace adjustments for employees with disability. This assistance, called the Employment Assistance Fund, can cover the cost of equipment, modifications, and services. Employers can access this funding, which reduces the cost and therefore the “hardship” of making adjustments. If your employer claims that an adjustment is too expensive, ask whether they have applied to Job Access.

Flexible working: your right under the Fair Work Act

The Fair Work Act 2009 provides a statutory right to request flexible working arrangements. This is a separate right from the DDA reasonable adjustments obligation, and it works in a different way.

To be eligible, you must have worked for the employer for at least 12 months (or for a regular and systematic pattern if you are a long-term casual), and you must fall within one of the categories: having responsibility for the care of a school-age or younger child, being a carer within the meaning of the Carer Recognition Act 2010, having a disability, being 55 or over, being pregnant, or experiencing family and domestic violence.

A person with Parkinson’s qualifies on the grounds of disability. A care partner qualifies on the grounds of being a carer.

The request must be made in writing, setting out what change you are seeking and why. The employer must respond in writing within 21 days. The employer can only refuse on “reasonable business grounds” and, following amendments under the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act 2022, they must genuinely try to reach an agreement on an alternative arrangement before refusing.

From 6 June 2023, disputes about flexible work requests can be referred to the Fair Work Commission for conciliation and, if necessary, arbitration. This means an employee who is refused flexible work without reasonable grounds now has a practical legal remedy.

Common flexible work requests relevant to Parkinson’s include:

  • starting and finishing at different times to avoid peak symptom periods
  • working from home for part or all of the week
  • working compressed hours (working full-time hours over fewer days)
  • working reduced hours (which may need to be considered alongside insurance implications), and
  • adjustments to rostered days.

Applying for a new job: what employers can & cannot ask

Job hunting with a Parkinson’s diagnosis raises questions about disclosure that can feel very difficult. The DDA provides clear protections:

  • An employer cannot ask questions about your health or disability during recruitment unless the question directly relates to your ability to perform the inherent requirements of the role. A blanket health questionnaire that asks, “Do you have any medical conditions?” is likely to be in breach of the DDA if it is used to screen out applicants rather than to assess genuine occupational requirements.
  • You are not required to volunteer your diagnosis. If you are offered a role and you need adjustments to perform it, you may choose to disclose at that point, either in writing or through a conversation, and request the adjustments you need. This approach protects your privacy during the competitive stage of recruitment while giving your employer the information they need to support you once you are in the role.
  • If you are rejected for a role after disclosing your diagnosis, and you believe the rejection was related to your disability rather than your genuine suitability, you may have grounds for a DDA complaint. Direct evidence of discrimination is rarely available, but patterns and timing can be compelling.

Do not sign a new contract without advice

If your employer offers you a new employment contract after you are diagnosed with Parkinson’s, or at any point where your circumstances are changing, do not sign it without seeking legal advice.

A new contract may appear to be a neutral administrative step, but it can have significant consequences. It may reduce your entitlements, change your classification, or restart periods that affect your access to insurance, redundancy, or long service leave. Once you sign a new contract, you may lose protections you had under the original one.

The same caution applies to any variation to your existing contract: a change in hours, duties, title, or salary. If the change is significant, seek advice on how it affects your insurance (e.g. income protection) and other entitlements before agreeing to it.

What you can do right now

  1. Check all your insurances. Do you receive a trauma payout on diagnosis? What income protection do you have in place? How much sick leave have you accrued? What TPD and life cover do you hold, inside and outside super? Write it all down.
  2. Think about how your Parkinson’s disease symptoms affect your work and what changes would help. Write down the adjustments you think you might need to continue in your role.
  3. If you want to request flexible working, do so in writing under the Fair Work Act (s.65). Keep a copy of the request and any response.
  4. If you want to request reasonable adjustments, put the request in writing. Keep a record of the response, including if it is refused.
  5. Before you disclose your diagnosis to your employer, consider the timing relative to any insurance applications or claims you may need to make. Seek advice if unsure.
  6. Use the YOPX app to record your symptoms and how they affect your work. PDF snapshots, together with health professional reports, can support an adjustment request, a workers compensation claim, or an insurance claim.
  7. Do not sign any new employment contract or variation without first seeking legal advice. This includes role changes, hour reductions, and redundancy agreements.
  8. Do not be afraid to consider a new role. A different position with modified duties, a new employer, or a career change may be a better long-term fit than struggling in a role that is no longer manageable.
  9. Make an exit plan from work. Even if leaving is still years away, having a plan means you know what insurance to claim first, what entitlements to protect, and what financial support to put in place. Do not wait until you are in crisis to think about this.
  10. Consider early retirement if you have received financial and legal advice. Early or medical retirement can be appropriate, but the order in which you claim insurance and access superannuation matters significantly. Get advice before making any decision to leave work permanently.

Infosheet kindly reviewed by Lachlan McGregor, Associate in the Employment and Industrial Law Section at Maurice Blackburn Lawyers.

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References

  • Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC). Disability rights: employment. humanrights.gov.au; 2023.
  • Carer Recognition Act 2010 (Cth).
  • Carer Inclusive Workplace Initiative.
  • Disability Discrimination Act 1992 (Cth), ss. 4 (definition of disability), 5 (direct discrimination), 6 (indirect discrimination), 11 (unjustifiable hardship).
  • Fair Work Act 2009 (Cth), s.65 (flexible work requests), as amended by the Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act 2022.
  • Insurance Contracts Act 1984 (Cth), s.21A (duty of disclosure), as amended by the Financial Sector Reform (Hayne Royal Commission Response) Act 2020.
  • Job Access. Employment Assistance Fund. jobaccess.gov.au; 2024.
  • Secure Jobs, Better Pay Act 2022 (Cth).
  • Trachtenberg M, Bhidayasiri R, Bhattacharyya KB. Employment and Parkinson’s disease: a review of challenges, accommodations, and outcomes. Parkinsonism and Related Disorders. 2020;80:S59-S64. doi:10.1016/j.parkreldis.2020.09.041
  • Work Health and Safety Act 2011 (Cth).
  • World Health Organisation. World Health Organisation Disability Assessment Schedule 2.0 (WHODAS 2.0). Geneva: WHO; 2010.
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