Uni ordered to let employee work from home to avoid commute

A student advisor has won a major work-from-home case against Victoria University, after the Fair Work Commission granted her the right to flexible work due to her age.

Michele Duffy, a full-time employee with the university, had been taking one day of long service leave off every week for more than 12 months before she made a request to work two days a week from home last July.

Duffy cited her over-55 age as the reason, saying working from home would support her productivity and wellbeing, and reduce the fatigue of commuting.

She worked at VU’s City Tower Service Centre, on the university’s busiest campus, and has been a full-time employee with the university since 2011.

In Commissioner Oanh Thi Tran’s written decision, published on the FWC website this week, she noted that the university initially rejected the request but asked for medical advice to support Duffy’s position and offered a rostered day off every two or four weeks.

After a face-to-face meeting between Duffy and her manager Tessa Benson, this was amended to a trial of one day off a week until the end of the year.

Benson said Duffy’s duties, which involve dealing with student issues, required in-person contact and face-to-face meetings, though Duffy said a lot of her work could be carried out online, and said she was willing to work in-office five days a week during “peak” periods.

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Duffy filed her application with the Fair Work Commission in November last year, after a meeting between the university and the National Tertiary Education Union.

Tran found that the university had not responded to Duffy’s formal application within the 21 days required by the Fair Work Act, but acknowledged that Duffy’s employers had reasonable grounds to knock back her request based on her job duties.

Nonetheless, she ruled that VU implement its own flexi-work trial, granting Duffy Wednesdays off.

“I am satisfied based on Ms Duffy’s evidence, including her oral evidence atthe hearing, that she experiences fatigue from commuting, which she experiences as a worker over the age of 55, and the proposed arrangement addresses those circumstances,” she wrote.

The trial will last at least half a year from a start date of October 27.

“The parties are to trial Wednesdays as the work from home day for a period of at least six months, following which they must consult and genuinely try to reach agreement about which day becomes Ms Duffy’s work from home day,” Tran said.

“The arrangement is to remain in place until the parties reach agreement about a change to the arrangement.”