Flex time was a major drawcard for Sarah Dinsmore when she joined the Australian public service 15 years ago.
But, since being promoted to an Executive Level role, it hasn’t been so straightforward.
“As a working mother, I’m trying to juggle everything,” Ms Dinsmore told The Canberra Times. “I’ve only got so many hours in the day.”
Instead of flex time, which employees up to APS6 level access on a minute-by-minute basis, ELs can claim time in lieu – but it’s at a manager’s discretion, and the union is fighting to change this.
“We don’t actually have anything set in our enterprise agreement that specifies how we can access TOIL,” she said.
“It’s left up to each agency, and then within agencies, it’s generally left up to individuals to negotiate that with their managers.”
Flexible work provisions in current EBAs have given working parents in the APS access to working from home, something Ms Dinsmore credits with enabling her to return to work when she wanted to.
“That did give me the confidence to come back and work full time,” she said.
But, she said, for EL employees, a lack of standardised access to time in lieu across the APS was a barrier to women’s career advancement, because of uncertainty around how different agencies would approach it.
“It means that you can have very varied access to flexibility, which just isn’t fair,” Ms Dinsmore said.
“It really does depend on your manager and the culture of the area … I’ve been in areas where it’s a bit more difficult, but I’ve also been very fortunate to be in areas where I have had better access to TOIL.”
Current EBAs provide for TOIL to recognise “reasonable additional hours worked, supported by regular discussions between EL employees and managers about hours, workload and access to time off.”
The Community and Public Sector Union (CPSU) wants this to be updated through the current round of APS-wide bargaining so that ELs can access one-to-one TOIL.
“We’re seeking for TOIL to be more like the way that flex currently operates,” Ms Dinsmore said.
“So, if I work an extra hour, I’d be able to take that hour off at a later stage.”
CPSU national secretary Rebecca Fawcett said women working in the public sector “need consistent arrangements across all agencies for accruing and banking flex time and TOIL.”
“For EL employees, our members need clear and consistent rights to time off in lieu of additional hours worked and not have those rights at their manager’s discretion,” Ms Fawcett said.
Finance and Public Service Minister Katy Gallagher, who is also the minister for women, has acknowledged that flexibility is “an ongoing piece of work” for the APS.
Senator Gallagher told Senate estimates last month that the APS “should lead the way” in supporting women returning from maternity leave to their roles in the federal public service.
And she wanted agencies to make more part-time EL and Senior Executive Service roles available.
Ms Fawcett said the government had said it wanted to be a model employer.
“Advancing women’s rights through flexible work and pathways to promotion in the APS is an important part of setting that standard,” she said.
“The union fought hard to win groundbreaking flexible work rights in the first round of APS-wide bargaining. We are now seeking to strengthen those rights so women working in the public sector are supported and properly remunerated.”
The CPSU wants APS employees to be able to access flex and TOIL as soon as possible after it is accrued and bank unused flex time or EL TOIL to be used at a time of their choosing, ideally within three months.
Where an APS employee has made a request to use their banked hours and this request has been denied, the union wants a discussion to take place with their manager with the aim of ensuring the TOIL can be used within three months.
Under the CPSU position tabled in bargaining, the employee would be paid out their banked flex or EL TOIL when they leave their position.
The Commonwealth’s preliminary position on EL TOIL is to retain the status quo.
Senator Gallagher has said she encourages the union to continue bargaining as negotiations continue.
First published in Canberra Times on November 11, 2026 as ‘For ELs like Sarah, time in lieu is not always straightforward’ by Dana Daniel.
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Picture by Keegan Carroll
