Lawful Directions

It has long been the case that an employee is required to follow the lawful and reasonable directions of their employer.

From a workplace safety perspective employers may direct staff to undergo a medical examination to assess their fitness for work, as long as there are reasonable grounds for doing so.

A recent Fair Work Commission decision (Moers v The Trustee for Williamson Family Trust [2025] FWC 1344) addressed this issue and confirmed that employers are able to direct employees to undergo medical examinations. The Commission also confirmed that a refusal by the employee to comply with the direction can be seen as serious misconduct.

This comes down to the legal requirement for employers to ensure, so far as reasonably practicable, the health and safety of workers.

In this case the employee claimed to be taking personal leave to care for his ill mother. As was the employer’s right it asked the employee to provide medical evidence that the mother did require care. However, the employee provided medical certificates over a period of months stating that the employee himself was ill. Because of the long absence on personal (sick) leave, the employer wanted to ensure that the employee could safely return to work after the illness and directed the employee to undertake a medical assessment before returning to work and sign an authority for the medical assessment be provided to the employer. The employee refused to do so, claiming that it would be a breach of his privacy.

The employer reiterated its direction and warned the employee that non-compliance would be treated as serious misconduct and would result in dismissal. The employee did not respond and his employment was terminated.

The Commission held that the employer's direction was a lawful and reasonable instruction that was consistent with employment contract and, by refusing to follow this instruction, the employee engaged in serious misconduct.

The unfair dismissal application was dismissed.

If an employer has a concern as to an employee’s capacity to safely work then they should seek advice as to the best approach to take. Andrew can assist in this regard.