Manager at prestigious college alleges she was frozen out for working from home
Kelly Reed, a commercial manager at University College – a student boarding facility attached to the University of Melbourne – says her health suffered and that she was hurt, distressed and humiliated by the conduct of her employer after she asked last year for a formally agreed arrangement to work from home most of the time.
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The case comes as the state Labor government prepares to give workers the legally enforceable right to work remotely up to two days a week – the first Australian jurisdiction to do so – and with the right to work from home emerging as an increasingly fraught workplace issue.
Reed is suing the college and two of its senior figures, college head Jennifer McDonald and its governing council chair Lisa Williams, alleging multiple breaches of the Fair Work Act after she made her flexible working request.
She alleges her bosses made it difficult to do her job, demoted her and stripped her of responsibilities after she appealed in the Fair Work Commission the college's refusal of an ongoing working-from-home arrangement.
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Courts have previously held that workers have no legally enforceable right to work remotely, but Reed and her lawyers allege the college breached the Fair Work Act by violating the work-from-home agreement that the parties had struck in the Fair Work Commission, as well as other contraventions of the legislation.
The college denies any breaches of the act, has lodged a defence with the court and declined to discuss the case when contacted on Tuesday.
MacDonald and Williams, in response to Reed's case, have both invoked the 'civil penalty privilege', a legal concept that shields people from giving evidence that might expose them to potential penalties.
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