Fifty-five-year-old council worker’s age-based WFH claim denied

A middle-aged council employee has failed to convince the national industrial commission to let him work from home up to four days a week on the basis that he found his office job tiring.

The ruling, in which the commission also ruled that the employee’s desire to lend his car to a family member to drive to university was not enough to justify the work from home request, contrasts with other decisions which the commission has approved similar demands and given short shrift to employer’s arguments.

Steve Polak, a planning and building liaison officer at a Victorian council, already had approval to work from home three days a week when he lodged a request in November 2024 to work from home up to four days a week.

Polak told Macedon Ranges Shire Council that he needed to work from home because he was over 55 years old, had “work-related fatigue”, and wanted to avoid driving in the dark. He needed to lend his car to a family member to drive to university, Polak said. He argued that he could do the job mostly from home and meet with colleagues via video calls.

But the council twice rejected those arguments, and knocked back an appeal as well. Polak’s manager said he could schedule his work from home days to manage the car issue, and as a senior member of the team, it was important he was in the office to work with his colleagues.

“Increasing team engagement and strengthening in-person collaboration are key priorities for the [council]”, a manager told the commission.

In an almost immediate judgment that was published on Monday, deputy Fair Work Commission president Kamal Farouque ruled that the council had shown there were reasonable business grounds for refusing Polak’s request.

“The respondent wishes to have the applicant’s experience available to the planning team and build team connection by having him work in the office for two days a week,” Farouque, who formerly worked for labour law firm Maurice Blackburn, said in his decision. Even though Polak could do much of his work from home, that was a valid reason to decline to extend his work from home rights further, he ruled.

Kylie Tatt, the council’s HR manager, said the organisation acknowledged the Fair Work decision.

“As this matter relates to an individual employee and employment issues, council will not be providing further comment,” Tatt said. “We respect the privacy of all parties involved.”

This masthead sought to contact Polak via the council, and through LinkedIn.

Local councils have been at the forefront of handing staff workplace perks. Launceston Council announced it would pay staff full-time wages but only require them to work four days a week in January, before outrage from local businesses and residents forced the organisation to retreat a month later.