Commission backs employer in WFH dispute

A payroll officer and primary carer of two young children challenged his employer’s refusal to let him work from home for two days a week.

Fair Work commissioner Alana Matheson has sided with building material supplier Knauf Gypsum in an application brought by its payroll officer, Rabin Gurung, over a flexible working dispute.

Employees with Knauf Gypsum were previously permitted to work from home for two days a week under its hybrid work policy, but with the expressed condition that they not be a primary carer for children, primary school-aged or under. This was discontinued from 1 January.

Gurung’s work-from-home request, filed in late January, requested Mondays and Fridays to take on primary caring responsibilities for two young children aged under four. He cited that his wife was pregnant with their third child and was suffering from a medical condition.

He did not accept that being a primary caregiver automatically prevented an employee from effectively performing work duties from home.

Knauf Gypsum did not agree to the request but did put forward four other options, including part-time employment, full-time equivalent hours across four days per week, and split-shift arrangements.

No agreement was reached, and the work-from-home request was denied.

In dismissing the request, Knauf Gypsum cited uninterrupted focus, development target areas that have allegedly “not progressed to a satisfactory stage”, and claims of performance concerns.

On the latter, the company alleged Gurung had a “marked drop in performance and attention to detail”, which it claimed impacted productivity, timeliness, and the efficiency of pay runs.

While he accepted that development issues were identified during a performance review, Gurung did not understand there to be any “serious or sustained performance issues”, the commission was told.

Knauf Gypsum also pointed to Gurung’s role as lead of its most complex payroll run and the need for “a high level of focus and attention to detail” to ensure the process is accurate and efficient.

A need to not be interrupted by caring responsibilities is particularly important in Gurung’s role, the company added.

In her decision, Matheson accepted that children aged under four require a high level of attention and care, “and are not of an age at which they are self-sufficient for significant periods of time”.

“I accept that a role involving payroll processing requires focus and attention to detail in order to minimise errors and ensure pay accuracy.

"While the applicant suggests that the respondent’s concerns rely on assumptions regarding caregiving responsibilities, I do not consider those assumptions to be misplaced,” Matheson said.

Matheson also found, on the balance of probabilities, that Gurung’s responsibilities as primary carer while trying to carry out his payroll duties have “contributed to performance concerns such that the applicant is only ‘partially’ meeting expectations as reflected in his rating”.

Knauf Gypsum had reasonable business grounds for its refusal.

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