It’s the start of a new year and you’re in a new role as a People & Culture Officer at a retail banking institution. 
A number of employees have been sick over the break with Covid-19, when most of them were on their pre-booked annual leave.
You’re aware that the Fair Work Act 2009 states that if someone is injured or sick (or caring for someone who is sick) when on annual leave, they can request it be changed from annual leave to sick/ carers leave.
You raise this with your Manager Salma who is reluctant to let this be common knowledge. Salma does however acknowledge that if someone raises the issue with HR and requests the change to their type of leave, it will be accepted.
This is not the approach you would take and seems somewhat unfair to those who don’t have this knowledge about the Fair Work Act.
What would you do?
We challenge you to create a healthy discussion with your colleagues and post a comment below. You could even encourage them to consider taking The Banking and Financial Services Oath!
Please share your ethical dilemmas with us - we can post them anonymously. You can email your dilemmas to dilemma@bfso.org
Photo by Rex Pickar on Unsplash