Full-Time to Part-Time Request Letter: How to Ask Your Employer to Reduce Your Hours

To ask to go from full-time to part-time in Australia, put the request in writing, say exactly what hours and days you want and from when, and give your reasons. If you have worked for your employer for at least 12 months and you are in one of the situations the Fair Work Act lists, such as caring for a child of school age or younger, your employer has to answer in writing within 21 days. It is a right to ask, not a right to part-time hours.

Claim Done drafts a flexible working request from your answers for a flat A$29.

Who has the right to ask for part-time hours

The rules below are as at November 2026. The Fair Work Ombudsman says full-time and part-time employees can request flexible working arrangements if they have worked with the same employer for at least 12 months and they:

• are the parent of, or have responsibility for the care of, a child who is school aged or younger
• are a carer under the Carer Recognition Act 2010
• are a person with disability
• are 55 or older
• are pregnant
• are experiencing family and domestic violence, or
• provide care or support to an immediate family or household member who is experiencing family and domestic violence.

The Ombudsman’s fact sheet on these requests gives a reduction in hours worked as an example of a change you can ask for. The right is part of the National Employment Standards, which apply to all employees covered by the national workplace relations system. If a State or Territory law gives you a better entitlement, that law still applies.

If none of the listed situations fits you, or you have been there less than 12 months, you can still ask. It is then an ordinary request, without the 21-day rule behind it. For other kinds of flexible work, such as working from home, see our general guide to who can ask and the 21-day rule.

What your request must say

The Fair Work Ombudsman sets three requirements. A request has to:

• be in writing
• explain what changes are being asked for
• explain the reasons for the requested change.

For part-time, “what changes” needs detail. A manager cannot say yes to “fewer hours”. They can say yes to “three days a week, Monday to Wednesday, from 1 February”. So a good request also covers:

• your role and your hours and days now
• the hours and days you want, and the date you want them to start
• whether you want the change for a set period, as a trial first, or for the long term
• how your work will be covered on your days off, if you have an idea.

What part-time means for your pay and leave

Fewer hours means less pay and less leave building up. The Fair Work Ombudsman says part-time employees work less than 38 hours per week, usually with regular hours each week.

The Ombudsman’s annual leave example is a part-time employee working 20 hours a week who builds up 80 hours of leave in a year. When there is an agreed change from full-time to part-time, you keep any leave you have already accumulated.

Going part-time after parental leave

An employee who has been on unpaid parental leave is entitled to come back to the job they had before going on leave. If no changes are made, that means the same hours of work, location and duties, so part-time hours do not happen by default.

The Ombudsman’s page on flexible work after parental leave says a parent of a child of school age or younger who has worked with the same employer for at least 12 months can make the request, and it names working part-time as one of the arrangements. Its example is an engineer who asks in writing to return part-time for three months, then move back to full-time hours. Because the employer has 21 days to reply, send your letter well before your return date.

How to send it and what to keep

Email the letter to your manager or HR contact, so there is a dated record. Keep a copy and every reply. If there is a dispute later, the Fair Work Commission’s application form asks for the date you made your request, a copy of your written request and a copy of your employer’s written response if there was one.

What your employer must do in 21 days

An employer who gets a request needs to respond in writing within 21 days, and the response has to say whether the request is approved or refused. If you agree on something different from what you first asked for, such as four days instead of three, the employer needs to confirm it in writing within 21 days of getting your request.

An employer can only refuse on reasonable business grounds, and only if they have discussed the request with you, genuinely tried to reach an agreement on other arrangements, and considered the consequences of refusing. A written refusal has to explain the grounds and how they apply to your request, say what other changes the employer is willing to make or that there are none, and include information about getting help from the Fair Work Commission.

If the answer is no, or there is no answer

Start at work: ask for a meeting and bring a second option, such as different days or a short trial. If that does not settle it, the Fair Work Commission says an employee can ask it for help where the employer has refused the request or has not responded in writing within 21 days.

1. You apply on Form F10C. It is for employees who have already tried to resolve the dispute by discussions with their employer, and the Commission sends your employer a copy.
2. The Commission generally tries conciliation first.
3. If conciliation does not resolve it, the Commission can deal with the dispute by arbitration, a more formal process with a conference or hearing.

At arbitration, the Commission may order that the employer did, or did not, have reasonable business grounds for refusing. Only in certain circumstances, it may order the employer to grant the request or make specific changes to your working arrangements.

The structure of a full-time to part-time request letter

• Addressee and subject line. Your manager or HR contact, the employer’s name, and a subject such as “Request for a flexible working arrangement”.
• Opening. One sentence saying you are writing to request a change to your working arrangements. If the Fair Work Act right applies to you, say the request is made under section 65 of the Fair Work Act 2009.
• Current arrangement. Your role, hours, days and place of work now.
• The change. The part-time hours and days you want, the start date, and any trial or end date.
• Reasons. Why you need the change, in a sentence or two.
• How the work will get done. Handover or cover ideas, if you have them.
• Open door. That you are happy to discuss it and to consider other arrangements.
• Reply. A request for a written answer, noting the 21 days where the right applies.

Mistakes to avoid

• Asking only in conversation.
• Asking for “part-time” without naming the hours, the days and the start date.
• Leaving out the reason.
• Writing it as a complaint. It is a request.
• Sending it a few days before you are due back from parental leave.

Claim Done’s flexible working request asks about your hours now, the part-time arrangement you want, why you need it and how the work will get done, then drafts the letter in a friendly or formal tone. It mentions the Fair Work Act and the 21 days only where your answers show the right applies. You read it first, then it is emailed for you or you download it and send it yourself. Claim Done is not a law firm.