The man claimed his absences from the Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water were a “necessary and lawful exercise of (his) rights”. Photo: Dietmar Rabich.
A former public servant who stopped going to work and alleged an unsafe environment has failed in an attempt have his dismissal deemed unfair.
The man, whose name Region has chosen not to disclose, was employed at the Federal Government’s Department of Climate Change, Energy, the Environment and Water (DCCEEW) as an Assistant Director (EL1).
He first joined the Department in 2002 and was fired late last year for taking months off work without notice and failing to perform his duties.
In a recently released decision, Fair Work Commission Deputy President Lyndall Dean noted these absences started in early May 2024, when he was absent for much of May and June.
“The Department made over 19 attempts via email, phone and text to contact him over this period to no avail,” she wrote.
“As a result, the Department requested that the police conduct a welfare check, which occurred on 5, 7 and 12 June 2024.”
The man also didn’t contact his employer when asked to do so by the police.
He was issued a return-to-work direction in early July 2024 and returned to work, at which point he was told that any further unauthorised absences could result in the loss of his job.
Further absences occurred in March and April 2025, totalling 24 days of work.
After he was told the department was considering terminating his employment, the man was invited to explain why he was taking time off work.
He claimed that the absences were a “necessary and lawful exercise of my rights” under workplace health and safety law.
In his response, he said there were “preventable staff deaths” and a “prolonged normalisation of unsafe working behaviours spanning multiple years”
“I withdrew from the workplace due to unresolved psychosocial hazards, including verbal abuse, exclusion, and integrity concerns involving senior staff – issues I had previously reported through proper channels, but which remained unmanaged,” he is quoted as writing to his employer.
He also alleged conflicts of interest and verbal abuse from a fellow public servant.
A preliminary investigation was conducted, and the DCCEEW found no evidence supporting his assertions.
In a letter to the man’s lawyer, a departmental branch head wrote there were no deaths relating to the DCCEEW’s work and featured a denial of two instances of verbal abuse against the man.
Government lawyers also argued before the Fair Work Commission that the man’s claims about an unsafe workplace were made to “retroactively characterise his absences as a protected cessation of work”.
Deputy President Dean said that while the man had claimed his firing was procedurally unfair, the decision was valid.
She also wrote that she was satisfied that the man didn’t raise workplace health and safety issues when told he might lose his job.
“To this end, none of the matters raised by the Applicant in this regard justified the unauthorised absences, and in particular his repeated and ongoing failure to notify the department of his absences.
“To the extent he did not wish to interact with particular officers of the department, there were certainly other ways he could have provided notification of his absences, but he did not do so.”
Original Article published by Claire Sams on Region Canberra.
