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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
Comment
Van Badham

If you’re over 55 and too tired to make it into the office, these two Fair Work decisions are required reading

A tired man sitting at a desk in a modern office
‘In 2000 the average age of Australian retirement was about 53 but in 2024 it was 63.8,’ Van Badham writes. Photograph: 10’000 Hours/Getty Images

A decision last week about work-from-home accommodations carries implications far beyond the modern workplace and into the realm of a refreshingly material understanding of existential limitation.

It was only in July that Australia’s Fair Work Commission rejected the request from a full-time council employee, Steven Polak, to reduce his days in the office from two a week to one. Polak argued that as he was over 55 and experiencing a work-related fatigue his obliged commute was exacerbating.

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