A health representative for Tax Office staff has urged the agency to better protect vulnerable workers by letting them work from home more, as a union accuses the agency of taking a harsh line on remote working.
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The Australian Taxation Office is under pressure over its stance on working from home for people at greater risk of complications from COVID, after the health and safety representative issued a notice urging it to improve how it protects workers against infection and illness.
Australian Services Union official Jeff Lapidos, who represents ATO staff, has also said the agency needs to improve how it manages COVID risk for vulnerable staff.
However the Tax Office has said it is one of the public service's leading adopters of working from home, and that it has followed health and safety advice from state and federal authorities.
A Fair Work Commission case over the matter looms after the Commonwealth's workplace insurer Comcare cancelled the improvement notice and found the ATO had precautions in place for vulnerable staff including a process to request work from home arrangements.
While the ATO commonly approves staff requests to work from home for only part of their hours, Mr Lapidos said the agency is taking a tough approach to staff at greater risk of serious COVID illness who ask to work from home full time.
Pregnant employees, those over 70 years of age, and anyone with medical conditions designated by the Health Department as being at risk of serious illness should be entitled to work at home, he said.
"Instead, the ATO is using the process to keep vulnerable employees on a 'short lead' by approving only short extensions to working at home arrangements, if at all," Mr Lapidos said.
"The ATO is taking a very harsh line. It is pretending staff are safe at work when this is not the case, especially for its most vulnerable staff."
Most vulnerable staff with approval to work from home are expected to return to "hybrid" arrangements - a combination of working in the office and remotely - at the end of September, he said.
"These employees will have to go through another process for a chance to remain safe at work," Mr Lapidos said.
The ASU has written to the ATO about its refusal to grant requests to work from home full-time, received from staff members over 70 years old and pregnant employees.
An ATO health and safety representative for staff at the agency's Canberra office has sought a review from the Fair Work Commission after Comcare cancelled a provisional improvement notice issued to the Tax Office.
The representative is urging the industrial umpire to review Comcare's decision after the workplace insurer found the ATO had developed "individualised processes" for working from home due to extenuating circumstances, available to vulnerable workers.
Comcare failed to take into account how the ATO was treating vulnerable employees in practice, and had relied on assurances from the Tax Office that it was appropriately discharging its duty of care, the representative told Fair Work.
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An ATO spokesperson said it had followed guidance from state and territory governments, the Department of Health and the Australian Public Service Commission to shape its response to COVID-19 and its approach to staff safety.
"The ATO places the utmost importance on the health and safety of our people," the spokesperson said.
"When considering how to support an individual staff member, the ATO always provides a tailored outcome designed to support their unique circumstances using a range of appropriate adjustments.
"This support is always considerate of physical and mental health advice, and we work closely with individuals on their circumstances to consider what adjustments are appropriate."
The spokesperson said the majority of the ATO's workforce had work from home arrangements.
"The ATO is a leading agency in the APS when it comes to flexible working," they said.
The agency last year announced that under plans to continue hybrid working in 2022, it would expect full-time staff to work a minimum of three days in the office per week.
Comcare declined to comment on the Fair Work matter.
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