A state premier has vowed to push on with writing the right to work for home into law, rejecting claims it will send businesses fleeing across borders.
The Business Council of Australia on Wednesday waded into the debate on the Victorian government's plan to legislate a right for private and public sector employees to work from home two days a week if their role allows.
The nation's peak business group, whose members employ more than 250,000 Victorians, wants the policy to be abandoned.
"My message to the Victorian government is very clear," its chief executive Bran Black told reporters.
"Please shelve these policies."
Mr Black, the former chief of staff to former NSW Liberal premier Dominic Perrottet, argued it would result in businesses choosing to invest elsewhere, especially among those operating across multiple states.
"I hear frequently that they don't regard Victoria as a good place to invest - I've heard the work used 'uninvestable'," he said.
"Let's turn that around."
The council believes working from home arrangements should be negotiated at a workplace level between employers and employees to balance productivity and flexibility concerns.
"When you mandate it with a simple, one-size-fits-all, heavy-handed, top-down, government-knows-best approach, that doesn't do it," Mr Black said.
He noted such negotiations were permitted under federal laws and suggested "side-by-side" regimes would lead to more regulatory hurdles, creating headaches and uncertainty.
It was no surprise a body headed by someone with Liberal links opposed working from home, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan said.
She categorically denied businesses would be scared off, pointing to leading Victorian-based ASX companies advertising and promoting flexible working arrangements to retain and attract the best and brightest.
"I reject those claims, those claims that are just false," she said on the MCG turf after announcing the development of a business case to possibly revamp the stadium.
"I stand with working people and their families."
Section 109 of the constitution dictates that if a state law conflicts with a Commonwealth law, the latter prevails.
Ms Allan has pushed back against claims the move may not be legal, pointing to advice about an "explicit provision" in the Fair Work Act for state-based anti-discrimination laws.
The premier continued to argue working from home needed to be protected in law because "many Liberals" oppose it.
Federal coalition frontbencher Tim Wilson labelled the policy "professional apartheid" but the state opposition has not taken the bait after Peter Dutton's election campaign backflip on ending working from home for public servants.
Victorian Opposition Leader Brad Battin said his party supported the flexibility working from home offered but reiterated the government needed to provide more details about its plan.
"Jacinta Allan needs to guarantee it will not have an impact on employment here in our state, and people will be no worse off," he told reporters on Wednesday.
