The Full Federal Court has recently upheld the termination of
employment of an employee on sick leave in circumstances familiar
to many employers.
Background
The employee was employed at a mine and rostered to work
nightshift on 24 and 25 April 2014. On 21 April 2014, the employee
applied for two days annual leave to cover those nightshifts. The
mine superintendent rejected the application for annual leave due
to a shortage of overall crew numbers on the nightshift. The
employee threatened to take the leave anyway and stated that he
would get a medical certificate as the employer would find it very
hard to challenge the medical certificate. The mine superintendent
replied that it was fine for an employee to get a certificate from
a medical practitioner. However, as the employee had already told
the employer that he was "going to be sick" and taken
sick leave, there would be a completely separate discussion based
on the discipline policy.
