An unfair dismissal claim involving a Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) scientist has failed after the Fair Work Commission found that the termination of his employment for working overseas without permission was not harsh, unjust or unreasonable.
In issue
- An unfair dismissal claim involving a Bureau of Meteorology (BOM) scientist has failed after the Fair Work Commission found that the termination of his employment for working overseas without permission was not harsh, unjust or unreasonable.
The background
BOM investigated the Applicant’s whereabouts after he failed to return to work onsite at the employer’s Melbourne office following a period of approved leave. The Applicant’s supervisor reported that the Applicant was still overseas but representing himself to be working in Australia and was unresponsive during work hours. BOM checked the Applicant’s recent logins and discovered that he had been logging into the organisation’s network from the USA. BOM also concluded that the Applicant used a personal device on its network without permission, which caused significant risk to the organisation’s security.
The Applicant refused to provide evidence of his return to Australia and BOM substantiated that the Applicant failed to adhere to its working from home policies by working overseas without permission.
The decision
Commissioner Connolly held that the Applicant’s dismissal was warranted after he accessed the BOM network overseas without approval, caused serious potential breaches of a Commonwealth IT network, lied to his employer about his location and failed to comply with a lawful and reasonable direction to provide evidence about his return to Australia.
Implications for you
Employers are seeing an increase in requests from employees to work remotely, including overseas (noting a number of countries have introduced special 'nomad' visas to encourage remote working). Remote work can create a range of issues for employers, including work health and safety, cyber security, and productivity/supervision issues. These matters are likely to be exacerbated when the 'right to disconnect' rules come into operation, particularly where employees are working in different time zones.
This is a timely reminder for employers to review their policies and procedures, to ensure there is a clear process for managing remote working, while complying with the current and future regulation of working rights.
