A senior Victorian council worker has lost a legal bid to spend more time working from home after Australia's Fair Work Commission ruled that tiredness did not justify reducing his office attendance. Steve Polak, 55, a planning and building liaison officer at Macedon Ranges Shire Council, wanted to cut his required office days from two to one for three weeks each month, citing "work-related fatigue". The decision matters because it signals that employers may have legitimate grounds to insist on in-person attendance, even where staff can perform most tasks remotely.

Polak, who has held his role for 14 years and champions work-life balance on his LinkedIn profile, argued that his commute and lending his car to a family member for university added to his fatigue, and that his duties could be handled from home via Microsoft Teams. The council refused the request, and Commission deputy president Kamal Farouque upheld that refusal, finding the council had "reasonable business grounds". He noted that Polak's long experience made him valuable in the office for mentoring younger staff and building team cohesion, despite accepting that much of his work could be done from home.