Westpac won't appeal landmark WFH ruling
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The news: Westpac won't appeal the Fair Work Commission ruling made against it late last month, a bank spokesperson has confirmed to Capital Brief. The ruling found the bank did not have reasonable grounds to deny a lender her work from home (WFH) request so she could drop her two daughters off at school.
The context: In October the FWC found Westpac had no reasonable basis to deny the request from a part-time lender in Westpac's Sydney mortgage team to work from home permanently.
Westpac had until Monday 10 October to appeal the finding but a spokesperson for the bank confirmed that it had decided not to do so.
The Financial Services Union (FSU) has used the "landmark decision" to put other financial institutions on notice as many look to curtail their WFH policies.
“We’ve told every major bank to get their own house in order — fix rejected work-from-home requests, comply with the law, and stop acting like flexibility is a privilege," the FSU said this week.
Asked about its WFH policy following its full-year results on Monday, Westpac chief executive Anthony Miller said the bank was considering the FWC decision but believed management had struck the right balance.
“We have one of the most flexible work-from-home policy positions in the marketplace,” Miller told a media and analyst call. “Finding that balance for our people, I think we’ve got that right."
“No, I don’t feel the need to change that particular setting."
The source: FSU
