A not-for-profit employee has claimed she was unfairly fired after she sent clients' confidential information and other work documents to her personal email 85 times.
The ex-employee took Uniting NSW, ACT to the Fair Work Commission alleging she was unfairly dismissed.
Earlier this month, deputy president Lyndall Dean dismissed the application finding the woman had engaged in serious misconduct and her December 2025 dismissal was fair.
Uniting NSW, ACT is a not-for-profit that provides a range of services including aged care, early learning and childcare, disability support, foster care, mental health support, and homelessness services.
To provide these services the organisation collects and holds highly sensitive personal and health information about the people who use its service.
In 2024 and early 2025 the woman repeatedly raised security concerns about her work computer and accounts.
An investigation found no issues, but she was provided a new laptop, mobile phone, phone number and assistance to reset passwords.
In November 2025, she disclosed that she had been forwarding work documents from her work email to her personal iCloud account as "backups".
A December 2025 IT report showed the woman had sent emails containing clients' personal information including first and last names, aged care facility details, medications and associated risks.
She was then placed on paid leave during an investigation which found she had also sent policy and procedure documents as well as other internal files.
The woman claimed ongoing IT issues prevented her from reliably accessing documents so she had used her personal iCloud account as a backup.
Later that month, she was sent a show cause letter which alleged breaches of the code of conduct and privacy policy.
She was then issued with a direction to permanently delete all confidential information held in any personal account or device and to confirm she had done so via a signed undertaking.
When she did not comply, the organisation sent another direction and warned failure to do so might result in further disciplinary action and legal steps.
On the same date, the woman responded refusing to sign an undertaking and claiming she had never taken, copied or retained any confidential information.
The next day she was terminated with immediate effect for serious misconduct.
In dismissing the application, Ms Dean said confidentiality was "not merely an administrative obligation but a foundational requirement that underpins the trust reposed in [Uniting NSW, ACT] by its clients, their families and the broader community".
She found that not only was the information "sensitive and confidential", but she "then refused to delete this information".
The commission determined there was no reasonable or justifiable basis for the ex-employee's actions with IT investigations finding her devices had not been compromised.
Ms Dean rejected the woman's claim that she had been targeted or subject to adverse treatment because she made protected complaints or inquiries.
The deputy president also rejected the woman's claim, raised for the first time during the hearing, that she did not send the emails to herself and someone else had done so.
