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An employer was wrong to consider its longstanding mobile phone policy wasn't a "working arrangement" that could be the subject of a flexible work request, the Fair Work Commission has found.

But in any case, it had reasonable grounds for refusing to grant the exception the employee sought, Deputy President Andrew Bell accepted.

The DHL storeworker had asked to carry his mobile phone with him while working on the warehouse floor, saying this was a 'flexible work arrangement' request made on the basis of his status as a parent of school-age children.

Carrying electronic devices in operational areas was "strictly prohibited" by the employer, but the employee argued an exemption would assist him to care for his children – both of whom suffered from severe asthma and anaphylaxis – in case their school or his wife needed to contact him...