MELBOURNE: An employee’s request to work remotely wasn’t validly made, in part because it failed to explain how the arrangement related to her condition, the Fair Work Commission has found.

Deputy President Terri Butler also found the employee hadn’t provided adequate evidence of a disability, despite asserting in her request that she’d been diagnosed with a cognitive disorder.

The case involved a James Cook University senior lecturer, who applied to the Commission in July last year seeking orders that would allow her to work remotely from the Sunshine Coast for 12 months.

The employee had previously made two requests for remote working arrangements, in October and November 2024; the employer denied both on the basis that part of her role required her to be student-facing.